'I wouldn't put my life savings on Rishi Sunak winning election', says mayor Street
The Tory mayor for the West Midlands said he would not put his life savings on Rishi Sunak winning the next General Election – but insisted outcome was not a done deal.
Andy Street admitted his party faced an uphill battle to stay in office after the poll, expected to be held some time this year.
But he told Black Country business leaders that all was not lost for the Conservatives, and he did not expect a Labour landslide as there had been when Tony Blair came to office in 1997.
Addressing a business lunch meeting at the Richardson group in Oldbury, Mr Street said there was still a slim hope of the Conservatives pulling off a surprise result.
"I wouldn't put my life savings on Rishi Sunak still being Prime Minister a year from now," he told the meeting.
"But there's a very clear answer as to why we shouldn't give up all hope."
Mr Street said that by 1997, the Conservatives had reached the point where people had stopped listening, no matter what they achieved.
"However good a job Ken Clarke and John Major did with the economy, in 1997 it wasn't going to wash because Tony Blair had already sealed the deal with the country," he said.
"That deal had probably been sealed at two key moments, the first being Britain's ejection from the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, and the other being when Tony Blair rejected Clause Four at the Labour Party conference.
"There was a love affair between the British people and Tony Blair, he was an outstanding leader, and we are far from that at the moment."
Mr Street said a by-election in Tamworth held in 1996 was won by a Labour landslide amid a 60 per cent turnout.
"Last year, with a turnout of 30 per cent, they won it by a whisker," he said.
"I think Keir Starmer is being very clear, is whole strategy is not to commit to anything that he doesn't have to, instead he waits for Sunak to screw it up.
"But when he comes under scrutiny by the electorate and media, he will be found wanting, he is the total opposite to Tony Blair, who had a very clear vision of what he wanted."
