When should Rishi Sunak call the next British election?
The economic signs suggest the prime minister has no good options
For someone who values fiscal prudence, Rishi Sunak bears a strong resemblance to Charles Dickens’s Wilkins Micawber. During his tenure as chancellor of the exchequer (and largely owing to the pandemic) public debt ballooned, from 84.5% of GDP to 96%. As prime minister, Mr Sunak’s political strategy seems to be almost pure Micawberism—a hope that something will turn up. Whatever turns up insofar as the economy is concerned is unlikely to be good for the Tories.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The Micawber strategy”
From the November 11th 2023 edition
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