Who and what influences Rishi Sunak’s political ideology?
Rishi Sunak’s political heroes include the 1950s Labour Chancellor Hugh Gaitskell; William Gladstone, who served four times as a Liberal Chancellor in the nineteenth century; and Nigel Lawson, the tax-reforming Tory Chancellor of the 1980s. Such a mix ought to tell people something about the breadth of his outlook. He’s interested in data, in how things work. He voted for Brexit, so he would want to be perceived as a believer in Britain being better off outside the EU. And if you look at one of his earliest parliamentary speeches as a backbencher, in July 2015, he spoke about the idea that public spending should not exceed 37 per cent of GDP. So, at heart, I think he’s a small-state conservative, even though events since 2020 have not allowed him to show these instincts to the country. I think his father-in-law, Narayana Murthy, has also influenced him in certain ways.
What sort of company does Sunak keep?
I think he is very close to the team around him in Downing Street. William Hague is known to have been something of a mentor to him as well. But as the book makes clear, he has also worked hard to forge good working relationships with a range of his MPs. Plus, of course, he is devoted to his family, and I know he likes to see them when time allows.
How, in just seven years, has Sunak secured the highest office in the land?
The answer is via a combination of ambition, ability and unforeseen events. There’s no question that he has always been very driven to succeed. One of his best friends in politics, Kevin Hollinrake MP, recalls in the book that when the 2015 intake of Tory MPs began to be appointed as parliamentary private secretaries – the first rung on the ladder to becoming a fully fledged minister – Sunak was devastated not to be among them. He was genuinely crushed, apparently. But apart from that determination to succeed, in many ways Sunak owes his career to Boris Johnson. Johnson and his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, wanted Sunak as Chancellor over Sajid Javid, and they were able to put him into that great office in February 2020. That was as much a recognition of Sunak’s talent as it was a piece of political manoeuvring on Johnson’s part. But of course, Sunak only made it to No. 10 when he did – in 2022 – because of the abrupt collapse of Liz Truss’s administration. Nobody could have predicted it would unravel within six weeks, and Sunak was waiting in the wings when it did, having only just lost the summer 2022 Tory leadership contest to Truss.
Who posed the greatest threat to Sunak during his advance to No. 10?
Probably Johnson’s supporters in the parliamentary party. Some of them became fixated on the idea that Sunak was out to dethrone Johnson. One of them even told the Financial Times menacingly: ‘Rishi will get everything he deserves for leading the charge in bringing down the Prime Minister [Johnson].’ In fact, I’m not sure that Sunak really did try to unseat Johnson in the way that’s been claimed. The book sets out the facts of his path to No. 10 very clearly, and, having gone through them, it’s difficult to accuse Sunak of having plotted for months on end. He and Johnson were quite friendly. They used to have supper together every Sunday night until July 2022.
What are Sunak’s strengths?
From what I have picked up about him, I’d say he is decent, very hard-working, morally upright, clever and someone who believes in Britain and wants the best for the country. He believes in aspiration.
And weaknesses?
I think that he has had to fight so many fires since taking office that he has struggled to set out his vision as clearly as he would have liked. And assuming the premiership without having been elected into it has also been a handicap for him because his critics have found it easy to say he’s only in No. 10 by default and so on. His family wealth has also been used against him. And there is a lingering question about whether he is tough enough. Sooner or later, all Tory leaders are measured against Mrs Thatcher. Is Sunak capable of showing the kind of robust approach that she adopted on so many occasions between 1979 and 1990?
Aside from politics, what are Sunak’s other interests?
One of his friends says in the book that he is a man of surprisingly simple tastes: he likes eating chicken Kiev, watching programmes such as Emily in Paris, and taking his children to TGI Fridays. I can believe that. He’s also a bit of a fitness fanatic. I’ve even heard whispers that he might take part in something like the Great North Run before the next election. It’d be interesting to see what Keir Starmer, who is almost twenty years his senior, would do if Sunak decided to go for it!
Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. For information on his life and work, visit lordashcroft.com. Follow him on Twitter/X and Facebook @LordAshcroft. All to Play For: The Advance of Rishi Sunak by Michael Ashcroft is published by Biteback on 19 September 2023.