It's worked a bit with diehard Tories, judging by yesterday's canvassing. That, plus "they're all the same", is why Labour can't take anything for granted. But Jonathan Freedland got it right:
"...it might actually be better for Labour if Sunak succeeds. Recall the Labour landslide of 1997, which came after a four-year economic recovery following the Tory disaster of Black Wednesday. That suggests not only that Britons are capable of inflicting delayed punishment on a government for an economic calamity that took place several years earlier, but that they tend to feel readier to turn to Labour when there is relative calm.
"Finally, Labour supporters are also citizens. They should not want the country to be the smoking ruin it was becoming under Truss – the currency tanking, debts rising – just because that would hasten a Labour victory. If Sunak represents the least insane route the Conservatives could have taken, that should be a source of relief rather than alarm. By now Labour should be confident enough to think beyond merely reaching the summit – looking instead to the scale of the task they will face when they get there."
Sunak is the best choice the Tories could have made – but Labour can still beat him | Jonathan Freedland
Starmer may have preferred to face Mordaunt or Johnson, but the new PM has plenty of vulnerabilities, says the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
