A defeated Rishi Sunak should go, but my advice is: not too quickly

he Conservative party needs another leadership election right now like it needs a hole in the head. Most observers agree about this. Even Jacob Rees-Mogg accepts that four Tory leaders in one parliament would be more than the country could tolerate. This side of the general election, the die is cast. After the election is another matter.leads the Tories to defeat this autumn, as most of his MPs now suspect will happen, he should not then resign immediately.

What does he say? Recent precedent suggests he says something graceful about the honour of serving and then resigns the party leadership. That’s what Gordon Brown, the last incumbent prime minister to lose an election, eventually did in 2010. It’s what John Major, the last losing incumbent before Brown, did in 1997 too. If he takes this course, Sunak would remain as leader while a successor was chosen.

He should not do so. Instead Sunak should stay on as Conservative leader if he loses the election. He should prepare the ground for staying on with trusted colleagues. He should then stand at the Downing Street lectern and say responsible leaders do not just jump ship. He should say it is his duty to see the party through a period of necessary reflection. He could even say what Callaghan told Labour MPs in 1979: “There is no vacancy for my job.

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