British political scientist Glees: “I’m really sorry for Sunak”

The new British Prime Minister Sunak has had a difficult start under enormous pressure to succeed, says expert Glees in an interview. Relying on stability and “compassion” in the increasingly difficult implementation of Brexit is rather clumsy.

“It doesn’t seem very good to be Prime Minister of Great Britain and leader of the Tories right now,” says British political scientist Anthony Glees, referring to the frequent changes in leadership within a few months. He means in tagesschau24 interview: A fresh start for the party, as Rishi Sunak is trying to suggest, will probably be “very, very difficult” with the same people.

In his inaugural speech, Sunak announced “stability, not growth” as the maxim of his financial policy and promised “sympathy for the population” – two statements that make the experts skeptical.

Stability means making amends for the mistakes made by ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss and her ex-Treasury Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, which led to massive financial turmoil and a fall in the pound. “That’s impossible!” says Glees. “And then talking about pity for the population – in English compassion – that sounds a bit demeaning.”

Boris Johnson is still present

Asked whether ex-Treasury Secretary Sunak advocates a more realistic budgetary policy than his predecessor Truss, Glees said: “People say so about him. I’m skeptical myself because the big problem for Britain, which neither the Tories nor Labor are talking about, is is Brexit and what damage Brexit has done to the British.”

Great Britain is facing slumps in the gross domestic product and in the trade of medium-sized companies with the EU, there is a shortage of skilled workers, but at the same time immigration laws have been tightened: “It is simply impossible to grow from this,” emphasizes Glees. That’s what Boris Johnson and Truss failed to do.

If Sunak does not admit that Brexit is full of disadvantages for Great Britain, he goes so far as to say: “Sunak will go as quickly as Truss”.

Although the Tories could not elect another prime minister anytime soon, Sunak was not elected by party members. And then there is ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said over the weekend that he was ready to run for office in 2024 and lead his party to victory: “For all the reasons, I really feel sorry for Mr. Sunak.”

Relying on security instead of Brexit implementation

According to Glees, in order to overcome the split between the nation and the party caused by Brexit, a “policy of very small steps is required”: For example, Great Britain could score in international security policy, where it supports Ukraine with arms deliveries and secret service information. A second step is to open up again to the EU single market, just as the Tories did Margaret Thatcher, in order to achieve greater growth.

For the British, on the other hand, an increasingly tough implementation of Brexit now means “the choice between eating and heating. Nobody in Great Britain voted for that! The promises have not been kept,” says the contemporary historian. Opinion polls showed that the overwhelming majority of Brits gave Truss a damning testimony to his tenure – a devastating record of a possible election: “If you go to the polls, the Tory party will be destroyed – if Sunak doesn’t succeed.”