All to Play For by Lord Ashcroft, review: what is Sunak for?

Make no mistake, though, this is not an achievement on Ashcroft’s part. At least not on Sunak. Portraying him as a low-tax conservative compromised by Johnson’s ‘desire to spend money’ in any situation, the party’s former vice president denies claims of a ‘plot’ to oust Boris, insisting the former PM has become “paranoid” about Sunak’s rise. -star status.

Source reveals he told Johnson after Sunak’s leave ended: ‘It’s good to have a hungry young lion sitting around the Cabinet table’, to which ‘Big Dog’ reportedly replied: ‘I don’t want to no hungry young lions around the Cabinet table. Cabinet table, I want tired old lions. Apparently he “hated” competition.

Carrie Johnson, the subject of a 2022 Ashcroft biography that she has since called “regurgitated lies”, is accused of “stoking tensions” by “associating Rishi with Dominic Cummings, who orchestrated the downfall of ( Sajid) Javid. Sunak, we are reminded, backed Cummings after testing his sight on the A1 during Covid, tweeting: “Caring for his wife and young child is justifiable and reasonable, trying to score political points there -above is not.

Although they were both on the same page when it came to lifting the lockdown, “the more Boris’s relationship with Dom deteriorated, the more paranoid Boris became about Rishi.” Johnson’s decision to increase national insurance contributions to fund social care also widened a divide, notably when Sunak was criticized for breaking the 2019 manifesto pledge. “Boris found it frustrating that someone was asking : ” What is the cost ? what do we cut? or if you don’t want to cut, we have to raise a tax – but besides, that’s not a conservative thing to do.’”

Environmentally conscious but not “green”, Sunak was also “frustrated by Johnson’s environmental obsession, largely because he felt he had never been honest with the public about its true cost” . When he finally resigned as Chancellor following a “Tory death spiral” involving Owen Paterson, Partygate and Peppa Pig, and after generating negative headlines about his non-dom status wife and his own US green card, Johnson was so furious that he threatened to fire Sunak. a video calling him a “c—”.

According to Tory MP Philip Davies: “When people say he was always plotting to get rid of Boris, I know it’s absurd”, pointing out that he had “taken one for the team” by being labeled ” high taxes” in order to pay Johnson’s credit card bill. Yet Boris supporters may wonder why “readyforrishi.com” was first registered with US domain name registrar GoDaddy in December 2021, seven months before Johnson resigned.

Despite barely speaking to Truss throughout the leadership race and beyond, the “considerate” Sunak apparently commiserated with his successor Kwasi Kwarteng after the implosion of the September 2022 mini-budget. where I was sacked, Rishi called me,” recalls Kwarteng. “I thought it was a really nice touch.” Yet such was the “good guy’s” political naivety that Davies had to tell him to prepare for Truss’s imminent demise. He “didn’t even consider” that he “would have to keep Jeremy (Hunt) as chancellor” so as not to further spook the markets.