Sunak’s job now is not about securing a Tory win, but merely avoiding an electoral disaster | Martin Kettle

The new PM is far from a magic bullet for the Conservatives – and rehiring Suella Braverman has already shown his weakness

As Rishi Sunak was pronounced Conservative leader by the backbench 1922 Committee this week, few noticed a tantalising anniversary. It was 100 years ago this month that Tory MPs abandoned the coalition that David Lloyd George had led since the end of the first world war. The decision proved to be a Tory triumph. The party won the resulting election and, without knowing it yet, seized control of 20th-century party politics. The dauntingly successful Tory party of the democratic era dates from that period. So does the 1922 Committee’s name.

Whether Sunak will be able to take that record of Tory electoral dominance into a second century is very much an open question. History casts no light on the future. The prime minister is focused not on securing another Tory electoral triumph but on avoiding an electoral disaster. A Conservative resurgence like the one that followed the realignment of 1922 remains a long way off.

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