Exactly one year ago, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s term began. In six years, Sunak becomes the fifth Prime Minister to serve so he must bring order to Britain after the chaos that erupted between former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and short-term Prime Minister Liz Truss. According to correspondent Lia van Bekhoven, Sunak has done everything he can to make his party credible, but whether this has had the desired impact remains to be seen.

Over the past year, Van Bekhoven has noted that Britain’s first British-Asian leader has tried to restore confidence in politics. “But voters saw a prime minister who launched initiative after initiative without restoring his authority.”

Sunak’s popularity

According to the correspondent, Britons currently see a Prime Minister who appears to have less control over events than he did. Meanwhile, Sunak is more popular than his Conservative Party after the turmoil of Boris Johnson’s government and 47 days of Truss chaos.

But now, a year later, according to Van Bekhoven, it seems that Britain is not really interested in Sunak’s promise to do extraordinary things. “Voters want comprehensive reform and they don’t believe that will happen with a conservative prime minister,” the correspondent explained.

The ‘impossible’ had happened

That pessimism is reflected in the fact that the Conservative Party lost two seats last weekend in districts where ‘votes, as the saying goes, are usually not counted, but weighed’, according to Van Bekhoven. Opposition Leader Keir Starmer responded that the ‘impossible’ happened as some Conservative voters voted for Labor for the first time in their lives.

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‘Sunak seems trapped. Inflation remains high, and so do tax rates. “There is a feeling of national pessimism and many conservatives have given up hope of winning the next election,” said Van Bekhoven. The correspondent is concerned that the Conservative Party will be better prepared for next year’s election defeat.