Boris Johnson is on his way out but the ‘war on woke’ is here to stay: it’s all they have to talk about as the economy crumblesPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Imagest is the ceremonial opening of the culture war games. Rishi Sunak, late to start but making up ground, showed up in earnest at the end of July with what has become the first ritual, the kicking of the asylum seeker. Liz Truss pledged to send even more of them abroad.
It’s worth noting here that Sunak started out as the “commonsense” candidate, who was going to be “honest” and not depend on “fairytales”. But then, presumably after actually getting to know the voting Tory membership, then having a Downfall-style meltdown at his team, decided that fewer facts and more empty posturing was the way to go. It is an embarrassingly desperate submission from someone who once insisted he had “zero interest in fighting a so-called culture war”.
For those hoping that the culture war nonsense and pugnaciousness of the Brexit and Johnson era were over, the past few weeks have been truly stomach-sinking. There has been so much infantile talk about serious things. The triviality of the two candidates’ preoccupations sits in stark contrast to the grave state of the UK’s economic situation, which is worsening by the day.