Fiona Unwin

How Rishi Sunak won over the Tories of West Suffolk

issue 06 August 2022

‘I’ve cancelled my exercise class for this! I hope he’s worth it,’ said Selina in the hotel lobby. Rishi Sunak was coming to West Suffolk to meet members of our Conservative Association. Would he be worth a listen?

Clearly our members thought so. More than 90 of us rocked up at one day’s notice to meet Rishi (or Sushi, as one of our older members kept calling him). Rishi wanted to pitch for our votes. His strategy is to introduce himself to as many members as possible. Last weekend, he met 2,000 activists in constituencies where 10,000 Tory members are based. He needs every single one of our votes if he is to overtake Liz Truss, and currently the odds are against him. One doubtful member told me at the beginning: ‘He can’t beat Truss. Not unless he wears a pussy bow and gets in a tank.’

There was some confusion on the door.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in