Will Rishi Sunak be a good ex-prime minister?

Sunak can learn a lot about what not to do from his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, writes Andrew Grice

In office, a prime minister has to be on top of every issue – or at least pretend to be (PA Wire)

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are writing a new chapter in the book of former prime ministers, titled “Don’t blame me, I was only the PM.”

All former party leaders – including those who don’t make it to Downing Street – inevitably try to put the best gloss on their record. But Johnson and Truss are taking this to extraordinary new lengths, rewriting the history of their premierships when the ink is barely dry.

They and their allies portray them as victims. Nadine Dorries attacks on TalkTV “the elite, the faux political intellectuals” who “plotted to depose” Johnson and have failed to achieve the “Rishi bounce” in the opinion polls that they expected. She announces that she will stand down at the next general election – a decision perhaps made easier by Johnson proposing her for a peerage in his still-delayed resignation honours list.