The Conservatives have been in power since May 2010. Their record has been dreadful. This is partly because of adverse circumstances. But it is also because the party is in thrall to an outmoded ideology. On balance, each leader has also been worse than his or her predecessor.
Maybe Rishi Sunak will be the “grown up” who breaks this sequence. But it is not grown up to promise tight controls on public spending, but only after the next election. It is not grown up to lower d