Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must distance himself from ‘damaging parts’ of Conservative legacy, says Leeds Professor

University of Leeds Professor Victoria Honeyman has profiled the new PM, who is beginning a ‘difficult time in office’.

The UK’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has a big job ahead of him – and needs to distance himself from ‘damaging parts of Conservative legacy’. 

That’s the view of Dr Victoria Honeyman, Associate Professor of British Politics, who has explored the rise of the North Yorkshire MP in a piece for The Conversation.  

Dr Honeyman, of the School of Politics and International Studies, says Rishi Sunak will need to associate himself with positive outcomes, such as a high level of youth employment, if he hopes to take the Conservative Party to victory in the next general election.  

The new Conservative leader must also pull his party together as Labour ride high in the pollls, Dr Honeyman writes. 

His only hope is to distance himself from the more damaging parts of Conservative legacy – such as the current state of the NHS, industrial strikes and chronic under funding of public services – and associate himself with the more positive elements, such as a high level of youth employment. 

Read the full article on the Conversation website.  

Picture via Flickr//Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Govt