Trailing in the polls, battered by economic headwinds and seeing businesses and the City of London flirt with the Labour Party, Rishi Sunak is rolling the dice that a shift to the right could keep his Conservatives in power.
When the British prime minister took office after the turmoil of Liz Truss’s seven-week tenure in 10 Downing Street, he assured voters and investors he was the responsible choice to manage the country. His pitch based on political and economic sobriety had a calming impact on financial markets.
It has not translated into electoral support. The Tories barely clung on to Boris Johnson’s former parliamentary seat in northwest London in a special election this month and watched huge majorities vanish in two other constituencies. That bolstered forecasts that the party is heading for a landslide defeat in a general election expected next year.