Even as a lefty British (Scottish) Indian, I felt a swell of pride looking at the photos of Rishi Sunak making history with King Charles. Sunak was not there as the people-pleasing, meek subordinate. He was no Dr Aziz in E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India. Sunak was there as the most powerful politician in the land, the Prime Minister. And he’s so minted anyway that he could have lent the King a bob or two.
My Indian parents were over the moon. I could tell there was great excitement because they worked out how to put me on speakerphone. “Wonderful!” exclaimed my father, who came here in the late Sixties. “I would love to meet his mother…” sighed my mum with a mixture of admiration and defeat. Every child of Indian parents is feeling the weight of acute disappointment. “I cannot believe he’s ONLY 42 … and SO trim! I mean, if HE can manage getting on that spinning bike thingy everyday…” Man, it’s brutal.
But it wasn’t just about making history, it was the fact that Sunak looked and sounded razor-sharp at the lectern outside Downing Street. For the first time in years, we didn’t seem to have a pudding or a buffoon going into Downing Street. There was a moment when even people like me thought “blimey… this guy could be really good.” And then he spoiled it with his Cabinet reshuffle.
At first, it looked promising. Keeping Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor was sensible. The departure of others including Jacob Rees-Mogg made us think this was a time for serious people. And then the news dropped that Suella Braverman was returning to the Home Office just six days after she admitted a serious security breach. You cannot declare professionalism and integrity and bring back Braverman.
That decision suddenly broke the spell. We all watched with disbelief. The Home Office needs a fine, serious mind, not a novelty act from the extreme Right of the party who’s obsessed with rounding up asylum seekers and flying them off to Rwanda at great expense to the taxpayer and who thinks tofu is a topical slur against the woke. C’mon. Kombucha or pea milk would have been funny.
Bringing back Braverman reveals that Sunak cannot be serious about grown-up government or growth, because if you want some you need more immigration. Sunak is also clearly still in hock to all the people who have turned the Tory party into a laughing stock. Speaking of which, jaws dropped when it was announced that Gavin Williamson — the Frank Spencer of British politics — was back. Sunak may as well bring back Nadine Dorries and Chris Grayling. The return of the old faces who defended Boris Johnson will only remind people of all the lying and partygate.
Sunak began by owning competence and integrity. But 24 hours later, nothing has changed. He may have got the band back together but he seems to have forgotten they were getting booed off stage.
In other news...
Streaming service BritBox has cancelled the revival of Spitting Image after just two series. Comedian and voice of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, Matt Forde (above), hit out at the fact that the show should have been on a prime-time main channel and expressed his fears for satire on TV.
I share his concerns. There’s an anxiety about being too outspoken about the Government even on news programmes, let alone satire shows, because politicians have sought revenge by either threatening future funding or, in the case of Channel Four, trying to sell it off.
We need good satire now more than ever. Humour and mockery are often the best way to puncture ego on all wings of politics and cut through the nonsense.If anyone wants to commission a show hosted by a woman, you know where to find me.
