Rishi Sunak has tied his fate to the Rwanda Bill – and both seem destined to fail

Editorial: Whether or not his bill ever becomes law, when the time comes for him to face the country in an election, Rishi Sunak will not be able to claim that he has ‘stopped the boats’

Rishi Sunak has himself to blame for tying his own political fortunes to his impossible pledge on immigration (PA)

The Conservative government, now surely in its final months of office, is so riven with division that it is difficult to justify its existence, let alone any notion of another term.

The party has been in a state of civil war, on and off, since the regicide of Margaret Thatcher, with periods of relative unity – mostly during David Cameron’s leadership – being more of a truce than a permanent end to hostilities. As has been all too apparent in recent months, the Conservative Party is really two parties and, with few exceptions, their respective members despise one another even more than they do their nominal political opponents.

We have, today, a situation in which the future of the nation is being decided by factional infighting within the governing party, with politicians positioning themselves for a future in opposition – which, perversely, is the only way in which most of them will be able to progress their careers. When figures of no great distinction, such as Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Nigel Farage, are jockeying for future leadership positions, the country rightly concludes that the political right has had its day. This is no way to run a party, let alone a country. It is, in truth, a kind of tragedy.