Gambling, Careering Downhill Fast, and a Toy Squirrel

Russell Jones on how Rishi Sunak's cursed career is about to come to a sudden and chaotic end

Rishi Sunak speaks during a visit to the Denby Pottery Factory in Ripley, Thursday 27 June 2024. Photo: Darren Staples/Associated Press/Alamy

Brace yourselves: Rishi Sunak’s career is coming to an end, and here I’m using the definition of career that means going downhill fast, and without control. But as bad as things are, he still found time this week to add a final nail in a Conservative coffin that already resembled a vast, rectangular hedgehog.

We all nodded along vigorously as Sunak said the betting scandal left him “incredibly angry”, because nothing about his anger seems credible. He hasn’t even managed to look mildly peeved, and his response was so half-baked you'd swear he'd been unable to afford his gas bill.

“Vote for me”, he seems to be saying, “If you want nothing done, I’m the best man for the job”.

The media are now sniffing out the source of the gamblers’ insider scoop. Could this be a clue: that everybody close to Rishi Sunak somehow knew exactly what was happening – except for Rishi, of course, who when asked about those gambling wins launched into his best Manuel impression: I know nothing! And Farage says Rishi doesn’t understand our culture. Pah!

Sunak now says he’d dearly love to help with inquiries, but sadly, answering any questions whatsoever might prejudice inquiries. The absence of a legal – or even logical – basis for this excuse isn’t important, because he has chosen the hill he wants to die on, and that hill, it seems, is William Hill.