Rishi Sunak's disappearing act is giving Labour a wide open goal

Rishi Sunak speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday
Rishi Sunak speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday
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Sir Keir Starmer thought he was being clever when he called him the “blancmange Prime Minister who wobbled” at Wednesday's Prime Minister’s Questions.

Yet a bright pink pudding that clearly distinguishes itself from its dessert trolley rivals is not what Tory MPs think of in their current appraisal of Rishi Sunak.

Indeed, one of the reasons he is so heartily cheered by backbenchers shouting “more!” in the House of Commons is because it is one of the only times the country gets to see him.

For while his "Big Dog" predecessor Boris Johnson was always in “high vis” mode, there’s a perception that it has been a case of lesser-spotted Sunak since he assumed office on Oct 25.

In the 43 days that have passed, we have seen him address the Cop27 - after first insisting he would not attend the climate change summit in Egypt - travel to Bali, Indonesia for the G20 and give a speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet.

But there hasn’t been very much people-facing, despite the country being in the grip of a winter of discontent plagued by a cost of living crisis and mass strike action. Not to mention the small matter of the Tories being 20-plus points behind in the polls.

As the normally Right-leaning Nick Ferrari put it on his LBC radio show on Wednesday morning: “Where is he? I know it got to the ludicrous point where more often than not you saw Boris Johnson wearing a yellow vest walking around a cake factory or driving a bulldozer or what have you, but at least there was some energy in it.

“Isn’t the reality now that we have a rather overpromoted economist pretending to be the Prime Minister with no policies?”

It was a harsh analysis in the face of what Mr Sunak’s allies argue are unprecedentedly hard times that merit serious leadership - not showboating. They also point to a Prime Minister who has historically been criticised for focusing on social media self-promotion, rather than getting on with the job in hand. "He is focused on delivering for the British people," they insist, reminding critics of how successfully he has "steadied the ship".

And, as Christopher Hope has confirmed in his latest Chopper’s Politics Newsletter, the premier will be out and about for the rest of the week in a bid to lose his InvisiRishi tag.

But his absence until now has presented Labour with somewhat of an open goal - not least following Downing Street’s decision to put ministers on the media just three times a week, rather than every day as under previous administrations.

Although it has shielded Cabinet colleagues from being harangued every morning over the latest government flip-flop, it has created a vacuum that the opposition has only been too willing to fill.

Sunak 'thwarted by his own backbenchers'

Enthusiastically taking the LBC bait on Wednesday, Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, said: “I think the bigger problem is not just that the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to have a clue what he wants to do or what direction to take the country in but at the moment he’s just firefighting, because the Government is in the grip of two groups of backbenchers both of which are fighting each other and nobody’s paying attention to what’s happening out in the country.

“Everywhere you go in Britain now there’s a sense that Britain’s not working. Whatever Rishi Sunak tries to do, he’s thwarted by his own backbenchers.”

It is perhaps ironic that in his face-to-face meeting with Mr Johnson in September, when the former Cabinet colleagues tried to strike a deal over who would run the country following Liz Truss’s sudden demise, one of the reasons Mr Sunak triumphed is because he pointed out to his forebear that he had the support of the majority of the party.

According to one MP party to the negotiations: “Rishi basically turned round to Boris and said - we’ve got the numbers and you haven’t. If you stand against me, then we will bring you down.”

Yet having been forced into an embarrassing reverse-ferret over housing, windfarms and now grammar schools, Mr Sunak is discovering to his cost that the Conservative Party remains ungovernable, regardless of who is at the helm.