Sunak Schizophrenia

In week 1, Sunak gives a very convincing imitation of a grown-up. He talks to the EU about the settlement of the various messes that Johnson left behind, and guess what? Faced with somebody reasonable and polite, the EU agreed on a deal which was far better for the UK than anything we’d seen before (before the mess bequeathed us by the Brexit vote, that is. There was a better alternative before that, but that’s blood under the bridge).

Which was a vindication of intelligent displomacy, and confirmation that David Frost’s belligerent jingoism wasn’t actually the best way to obtain a good result. It had the incidental virtue of seeming to underline the final collapse of any pretensions that Johnson had towards leadership - though with him you never know.

But this reasonable prime minister would never have appointed Suella Braverman, and in week 2 we get Sunak Mark II, the man who will singlehandedly turn back all the boats and make sure no foreigner ever steps on a British shore again. This is, of course, a fantasy, designed solely to pick up votes. Nobody seriously expects it to work. But it has the added disadvantage of infuriating the European allies who the previous week were convinced that the UK was someone with whom they could collaborate. So we’re back in the Brexit doghouse, on our own again, but flying a lot of union jacks.