Drowning slowly rather than quickly

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There was a time in UK politics when a report that Rishi Sunak was consulting Dominic Cummings about how to win the next election would have been treated as some sort of joke. It appears, though, to be true, and some of his own people are worried that Sunak could even have considered the possibility of bringing back so toxic an individual. What struck me, however, was the sheer arrogance of a man who seems to have convinced himself that he is such an expert in electioneering that he can take the wreck of a party – a wreck which he himself did so much to bring about – and turn it, in a few short months, into a party which can present itself as a credible future government. That, and the gullibility of a PM who seems to have swallowed the same idea hook, line, and sinker. Perhaps the PM can be excused, to an extent, for displaying classic symptoms of ‘drowning man syndrome’, although that merely serves to underline the point that many others have made, which is that he’s a politician who simply isn’t very good at politics.

We may never know the full details of the conversation; or rather, we may be left trying to judge which of the two men’s stories is most likely to bear a passing resemblance to truth. It is, of course, possible that Cummings knows a bullet when he sees one heading in his direction, and is secretly delighted to have had enough of a reason to say ‘no’ to Sunak and thereby avoid having to demonstrate his mastery of the impossible, although there’s nothing in his words which suggests such a degree of self-awareness, let alone any understanding of the depth of the problems which he did so much to help create. As for Sunak, he surely ought to have realised from Cummings’ statements and behaviours in the past that the idea that he could have a secret meeting where such matters were discussed without Cummings revealing enough of his own version of the event to act as self-justification and self-aggrandisement was the stuff of fantasy. But then again, ‘not very good at politics’ is not a description which has been used lightly.

In a way, I’m almost disappointed at the outcome. As long as there remains a chance that Starmer will somehow manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (something which he seems, at times, to be doing his very best to achieve), an election upset remains a possibility. Cummings’ ‘assistance’ would have made for an interesting spectator sport; and allowing him to finish the demolition job on the Tory Party which he has done so well to date would have finished him off, as well as the party. Two birds with one stone, as it were. Sunak will just have to continue drowning slowly by his own efforts instead.