Rishi Sunak vows to fix things for Britain

Unlike Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak didn't skirt around the circumstances of the changing of the guard in No 10. His address on arriving in Downing Street as the new Prime Minister was very to the point. He paid tribute to his predecessor's 'noble aim' of wanting to improve growth and create change, but added: 

'But some mistakes were made. Not borne of ill will, or bad in tensions – quite the opposite in fact – but mistakes nonetheless. And I have been elected as leader of my party and your Prime Minister, in part, to try to fix them.'

Fixing problems was the theme of this entire address. Sunak said 'economic stability and confidence' would be central to his agenda and that there would be 'difficult decisions to come'. That was a nod to the cuts he and his Chancellor, presumably Jeremy Hunt, will be making to public spending in the coming weeks.

Beyond that, he promised to deliver on the promises of the 2019 manifesto on 'a stronger NHS, better schools, safer streets, control of our borders, protecting our environment, supporting our armed forces, levelling up and building an economy that embraces the opportunities of Brexit'. 

He argued, significantly, that Boris Johnson 'would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual. It is a mandate that belongs to and unites all of us'. 

Sunak will counter calls from the opposition for a general election with the argument that he is delivering the manifesto he and all his Tory colleagues stood on in 2019, and so there is no need for a fresh one. He will also use that internally with the Tory critics who won't give him long before they start voicing concerns about his policies. But it also means that he is casting himself as the PM appointed to clear up a mess and get the party back on track rather than one with a new and unique vision for the country.

He also said that: 'I understand too, that I have work to do to restore trust after all that has happened'. Given the scale of what has happened and the clearing up that Sunak has to do, it's understandable that he didn't offer further pledges. But it also sets his new government up, not as one campaigning for victory, but trying to stop things from getting worse – for the country and also for the Conservative party.