Rishi reflects on his biggest mistakes in Downing Street

Rishi Sunak has spoken for the first time about his relatively brief and challenging time as prime minister, his record on migration, and his pledge to stop the boats”.

- SEAN O'GRADY

It begs a few questions about the strategy he adopted, about how ex-PMs should behave, and also the present state of his party...

Regrets, Rishi?

He has a few. He says now that the promise to “stop the boats” – one of his five “people’s priorities” unveiled at the end of 2022 – was “too stark, too binary” and couldn’t actually be delivered.

This is correct, and not just with the benefit of hindsight: it was also quite obvious when Sunak placed it at the centre of his challenging campaign to get re-elected. Indeed, both he and his home secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, were asked whether “stopping” the boats literally meant zero and, if not, what ballpark figure might be attached to the promise. Wary of getting himself snagged on another migration target, such as David Cameron’s 100,000 figure, the question was evaded. Voters were not impressed.