Sunak needs to recognise that the game is up

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This man should have the grace to call a general election rather than letting the country slide into more of the mire (PA)

Sean O’Grady is right to say that the chances of a Tory recovery from the by-election defeats on Thursday are slim and that to delay calling a general election until January 2025 is “madness”. Nevertheless, our prime minister (who he calls a “rational, highly intelligent man”) is an opportunistic politician who is becoming more and more adept at massaging the truth to serve his and his party’s ends rather than acknowledging what is in the nation’s best interest.

We can be sure that the Tories aren’t licking their wounds, learning from their mistakes and coming up with policies to rectify the mess they have made of government. Instead, they will be thinking of ways to tarnish the image of Keir Starmer and the Labour Party by grabbing hold of any spurious evidence they can to discredit them. At a time of extreme international instability, the prime minister should look at the by-election results and recognise that the game is up. The nation needs “secure and stable” leadership that, the electorate knows, his divided and incompetent party cannot provide.

It is long past the time that they should go, but I fear – despite the perils that beset us – that we have still longer to wait before we get the change we need.