Rishi Sunak: let down by a self-serving rabble that together devoured the reputation and appeal of the once great Conservative Party

It is, in truth, almost impossible to articulate the litany of lies, obfuscation, scandal and arrogance that went before Mr Sunak, who must have felt like tearing his hair out as headline after headline revealed the extent of the rot in his party.

Afforded the comfort of being outside of the pressure cooker of power, Mr Sunak struck a much more human tone than that which he strived for as premier, telling the BBC in a wide-ranging interview that he had regrets about some of the messaging his Government had pursued.

‘Stop the boats’, for example, he said was too blunt an instrument. Too binary a cause. So binary, in fact, that the reality of the pledge, in and of itself, is almost certainly impossible to deliver.

Revealing the compassionate side of himself that he has shown previously to this newspaper in walkabouts with Yorkshire Post journalists in his constituency, Mr Sunak went on to acknowledge that whilst the generosity of Yorkshire people - and the wider country - as well as their own compassion for those less fortunate than we can count ourselves, are limitless, what is not limitless are the services and resources of this country.

Mr Sunak emanated all of the qualities a Prime Minister requires. It is therefore regrettable that he was so badly let down by his predecessors and the associated self-serving rabble that together devoured the reputation and appeal of the once great Conservative Party.