Martin Ivens, Columnist

Rishi Sunak Can’t Fool UK Voters by Faking Populism

The Tory Party won’t reverse its decline by moving further to the right.

February 19, 2024 at 5:00 AM UTC

Martin Ivens is the editor of the Times Literary Supplement. Previously, he was editor of the Sunday Times of London and its chief political commentator.

Labour Party candidate Gen Kitchen (left) defeated Conservative Party candidate Helen Harrison in the Wellingborough by-election.
Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe

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Sometimes there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. The ruling Conservative Party’s loss of two previously safe seats in by-elections on Thursday heralds likely defeat in a UK general election, expected later this year. Rishi Sunak may try to blame the low turnout and the unfavorable circumstances that prompted the contests, but the prime minister can take no comfort in his own lame excuses.

Pessimists argue that Labour’s victories in Wellingborough and Kingswood may presage the worst electoral outcome in the history of the Tories— whose instinct is often to panic even at the best of times. Sunak’s critics inside the party are already talking of a Canadian-style wipeout, which saw a Progressive Conservative government reduced to just two seats in 2003.