Rishi Sunak rules out Tory coalition after election

Rishi Sunak, whose party is trailing Labour between 10 to 15 points in the polls and recently lost more than 1000 seats in the local council elections, told reporters he is confident of winning the next election.

On his trip to Japan, he also ruled out forming a coalition with any party after the election, even with Northern Ireland’s DUP - which was the party that propped up Theresa May’s government after her ill-fated 2017 general election.

In other words, he believes he can win a working majority in a general election likely to be between a year and 17 months away. Really, truly he does.

By contrast, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer - whose party became the biggest in local government for the first time in more than 20 years in those elections - is not ruling out working with the LibDems after the general election (though he has said he would not do any such deal with Scotland’s SNP).

Sir Keir also talks about there being a route to victory for Labour, rather than the election being in the bag.

What is the moral? Putting on a brave and confident face is more important for a leader, Rishi Sunak, who came into office in crisis for his government and party, and has a mountain to climb to restore the trust of voters.

To do otherwise would presumably undermine his authority with political colleagues and in Whitehall.

Sir Keir can let the opinion polls and council results do the talking for him.

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