Views on Rishi Sunak?

[BradfordGirl]

My view is he seems to be an incredibly weak and passive Prime Minister who is missing in action while the country faces crisis after crisis. We could have a cardboard cut out as Prime Minister and I doubt we would notice much difference.

It’s harder when you’re not at the top but given his view on lockdowns I’m glad he’s less likely than other parties / leaders to do it again

I would imagine being a partner in a hedge fund or a director of an investment trust would pay well. He wasn't a Portfolio manager, that makes it sound like he was running a few discretionary managed accounts for an IFA. Middle class or otherwise, they don't hand out jobs like that. No that alone doesn't qualify you to be PM, but what I am arguing about is the questioning of Sunak's economic credentials. He clearly has them.

The cynic in me my suggest that his opposition to lockdowns after the event was to play to a particular part of the Tory party in order to win their votes to be PM.

I am not disputing he understands the stock market. I am saying he is showing zero understanding of the wider economy and how to boost the economy.

Lives in another world far removed from the average peasant, isn’t affected by any of the problems that affect most people and doesn’t even understand some of them. And as could apply to all of them, doesn’t really care about changing anything or feel any pressure to, he’ll be paid either way.

This is not how productivity works. Productivity means that you maximise the output rather than the hours worked. The UK’s long working hours/low wage economy is part of the problem. A simple example: to dig a big hole, you can either employ, say, a hundred men with a spade, pay them each a pittance and make them work long hours. Or you can employ one man with a digger for half a day. This man’s productivity is much higher.

Of course this means that you will have to invest in machinery (the digger), specialist skills for your workforce (learning how to operate a digger safely and efficiently). You’ll also have to pay him a better wage. You’ll need a functioning infrastructure (roads, petrol stations, skilled mechanics to maintain and repair the digger etc.)

The U.K. has low productivity for an industrialised country because it has neglected investment in machines/automation, skills and infrastructure for too long.
People being expected to “work hard and long hours”, ideally for a pittance, leads to low-productivity ways of working.

@BradfordGirl I'm not sure you'd be an effective hedge fund manager without a decent understanding of macroeconomics.

You’ll also have to let the other diggers go. And sometimes that’s more difficult as we’re seeing some sectors.

I'm watching him with the weary cynicism that recent politicians have awakened in me. I hope he does ok but am just expecting a new flavour of poop, to be honest.

However the next two years goes, it'll be a cold day in hell before the Tory party get a vote from me. Having seen what they've made of the last 12 years, I'll never trust them again.

I don't agree. To understand things function from an academic level or from a financial perspective is different from truly being able to grasp the complexities of a society as a whole. Economist doesn't equal to someone who can run a country.

I don't want an average peasant managing the country. I want someone who is competent and knowledgeable. I wouldn't think less of them because they have done well for themselves in their previous career, quite the opposite. I don't want someone who cannot make ends meet running our economy, sorry.

He was the son of immigrant parents who worked hard and became a doctor and a pharmacist, and worked part time as a waiter. He had a decent leg up from his parents, going to Winchester college and all, but his parents worked hard for the opportunities they gave him, and he took those. Thats nothing to sneer about.

i think charisma is an over rated trait. I’d prefer someone boring and reliable and honest. Such as Theresa May if Rishi is equally gifted in the sense department he’ll get my vote. He also knows what a woman is.
BJ had plenty of charisma and so does Trump.

I didn't say he was the perfect prime minister, I questioned the OPs assumption that he knows nothing of economics, which is clearly wrong.

I agree that the ideal candidate would have many strings to their bow.

He's one of the richest men in the country. That is in no way representational.

A weak little man with his head in the clouds. I bet his wife always goes on top.

I think the long and short of it is he's an utter twat.

@Perfect28 I don't want someone representational, I want the best person for the job, whether they be lord of the manor or a self made person from an east end slum. What I don't want is average Joe just because they know the price of a pint of milk.

@Whatsfordinnerglutenfree agreed.

What is into an interesting programmme on radio four today which said that really we should be looking at grow the green economy and it included healthcare and education in the green economy. We shouldn’t be looking at manufacturing growth anymore, if we are going to help climate change, we need to look at different ways of running the economy and providing jobs. Getting people to buy more and more goods to grow the economy isn’t going to work any more, jobs in the green economy, health care , leisure, education are where we need to grow.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter how competent/incompetent Sunak is as there is no will in the Conservative Party to do anything about the challenges the country faces (most of which they have brought in themselves). The majority of current Conservative MPs are interested only in Brexit, reducing immigration (which they haven't done) and making money for themselves and their mates. Any decent, heavyweight Tories jumped ship before the last election.

I heard a Tory MP on the radio earlier and the best thing he could come up with about the Tory party's dire polling was thay Rishi as a person doesn't poll as badly as the Conservative Party as a whole.

I don’t care if it’s an average peasant as long as they are affected enough by the issues to do something about them. He isn’t. He gives the impression of knowing nothing about life for most people and didn’t seem to know how to pay at at petrol station.

True. This is why the Luddites destroyed the new mechanised looms. However low productivity ways of working in a global context mean that you become uncompetitive and people lose their jobs anyway.

Honestly, he needs to work on his own maths tbh. He is completely ineffective, forgot he was the PM, seems to do a disappearing act when it suits him. The whole political scene needs a complete and utter overhaul, it’s not fit for purpose.

And I wasn’t sneering.

That was in response to @MarshaBradyo