Think Rishi Sunak’s a moderate, middle of the road Mr Nice Guy? Think again

He masks it with genteel manners and a nice smile, but in any previous Conservative government, even that of Margaret Thatcher, Sunak would have been a token headbanger, writes Sean O’Grady – it’s the party’s lurch to the right that has made the PM seem palatable

There’s sum thing about Rishi: The prime minister visits the Wren Academy, in Finchley, London (Getty Images)

Lots of people seem puzzled as to why Rishi Sunak – sensible, steady, rational Rishi Sunak – is going hell-for-leather with the Rwanda Bill in the latest attempt to resuscitate what his own home secretary called a “bats**t” policy.

Some surmise that he’s being pressured by the European Research Group and the other members of the Tory in-house mafiosi in the “five families”. Others speculate about his need to win back disillusioned voters, particularly in the red wall, disgusted by the small boats “invasion”. Perhaps there’s even an element of pride, albeit a slightly petulant expression of it.

There is something, I’m sure, in all that conjecture. But how about the possibility (strange, I know) that Sunak actually believes in the Rwanda plan, and doesn’t for one moment regret making it the totem of his entire premiership?