Historically, the Conservative Party has been, well, conservative: it resists rapid change; reacts to problems in a flexible and non-ideological way; and emphasizes deference, property rights, competence, and traditional values. But Brexit and Boris Johnson took the party in a completely different, populist direction; this resulted in a smashing electoral success, but shambolic government driven by leaders with more interest in performance than results. This was followed by the extremely brief, classical liberal, Liz Truss era. Where does Sunak fit in this picture?
Sunak is a return to standard conservatism. He is about as far from a populist as he can get. His problem is that the condition of the UK is considerably less than great, which means he is effectively obligated to run against Johnson and Truss, his Tory predecessors. Can that possibly work? Will he be given credit by the electorate for being a change candidate when the baseline is his own party, which he supported loyally at the time?
Don’t hold your breath.