Just say something, anything: when politicians make lots of noise because they have nothing else
This past week in Westminster has been notable for an uncharacteristic level of high drama.
Uncharacteristic because ‘drama’ is something that Rishi Sunak has been trying to avoid since his accession to the role of Prime Minister. I’ve discussed this before in several pieces - notably here in my first piece of the year:
The reason Sunak likes to avoid ‘too much drama’ is because drama encourages people to pay attention to him.
Sunak reached that sentient phase in his career around February or March last year when he recognised his attempts to boost his platform prior to his inevitable leadership challenge exposed how little substance he actually provides to match the slickness of his brand.
Like a lot of brand marketing - in this case, ‘Brand Rishi’ - the finished product very seldom lives up to expectation. Now, with Sunak having achieved his goal of becoming Prime Minister, he is attempting to apply a portentous, sophisticated ‘quiet managerial’ style to his leadership. That’s Sunak’s ‘thing’.
So.
When Sunak attempts to be bold, to go hard, fast, be brash and announce some absurd policy or other - as he has been this last week in an attempt to spring into the New Year - it’s about as nondescript as the restaurant jazz pianist surprising the clientele by bursting into a particularly bad rendition of ‘Raining Blood’ mid-lunch.
You notice, in other words.