Politicians, especially those in senior positions, come under a lot of scrutiny. Not only are their policies and political ideology closely examined but their personality, manner and deportment are analysed as well. The journalists, satirists and comedians love it when a Prime Minister has a specific and easily identifiable personality trait. When the political climate is favourable they can be depicted as avuncular, paternal or jovial. Affectionate nicknames can be invoked such as “Mutti Merkel” (Mother Merkel) when a nation feels well disposed towards their leader. However, when things are not faring so well the PM may find themselves being labelled dour, or humourless. Nicknames become less favourable.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, has recently been accused of being “tetchy”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary “tetchy” is defined thus: Easily irritated or made angry; quick to take offence; short-tempered; peevish, irritable; testy. The accusation arose last month in the wake of the diplomatic brouhaha with the Greek Prime Minister. Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting at the eleventh hour, over comments his Greek counterpart had made regarding the Elgin Marbles. When The Spectator magazine reasserted the claims of tetchiness in an interview shortly after, Mr Sunak replied “I don’t understand that”.
Countering the comments, the PM referred back to the Conservative leadership election of summer 2022, which he lost to Liz Truss. He stated “that wasn’t an easy time for me, I was taking a lot of criticism and flak. But I just fought hard for what I believed in – every day, seven days a week for six weeks. I’m the same person now, I am fighting for the things I believe in. There’s nothing tetchy. But I am passionate. When things are not working the way I want them to work, of course I’m going to be frustrated”. All of which appears to be perfectly reasonable at first glance. However, it is the manner in which his frustration manifests itself which may be the basis for claims of being tetchy.
Rishi Sunak has on several occasions come across as someone who struggles with being questioned. He finds it frustrating when people cannot follow his line of reasoning and also gives off an air of someone who fundamentally doesn’t like being cross examined. Hence he has fared poorly at Prime Minister’s Question Time of late and has also been forensically deconstructed at several select committees. He does not appear to have mastered the art of governing his passion when debating with those who have outmanoeuvred him. He all too often shows annoyance and allows his response to be driven by his feelings, rather than using the traditional political techniques of deflecting, responding with a pithy repost or answering a question with a question. This skills gap is curious as in most other respects Mr Sunak is a competent public speaker and communicator.
Irrespective of whether the Prime Minister is or is not tetchy, Mr Sunak has received his lowest ever net favourability score of minus 49. This is a drop of ten points from November. New polling from YouGov shows 70% of Britons have an unfavourable view of the PM, with only 21% having a favourable view. The new figures mean that the PM’s overall net favourability score is comparable with that of Boris Johnson’s during his final months in premiership. Mr Johnson’s net favourability score was -46 immediately after he resigned. However, it should be noted that Rishi Sunak is still beating Liz Truss via this metric. The previous Prime Minister’s score dropped to minus 70 in her final days in office.
Returning to the Spectator interview, Mr Sunak said his critics were focusing on the rising tax burden, rather than the recent tax cuts announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. Something the PM said was “a really glass-half-empty way to look at it”. However, again this seems to indicate another political blindspot that the PM has. He seems to be unable to empathise with the electorate. Something that can be done without conceding political ground. Whether Mr Sunak is tetchy is yet to be definitively established, but the notion of him being so is now in the public domain, which means that he would be wise to try and thicken his political skin. It is more than likely that both the opposition party as well as his political opponents on his own back benches will capitalise on this potential chink in his armour. Politics is often about perception rather than reality.