England council elections: If Rishi Sunak was a football manager, he'd know his days were numbered – Scotsman comment

The Conservatives are facing the loss of hundreds of council seats in the local elections in England

As Rishi Sunak prepared for his side’s big contest today, the troubled Tory ‘manager’, still reeling from a string of bad results, received the ultimate kiss of death: the dreaded “full backing” of the ‘board’.

Speaking ahead of the English local elections, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch told Sky News there was “a lot of noise being made by people who want to get attention, but the Prime Minister has the full backing of the Cabinet”. She then added, rather redundantly, as if unsure about some of her colleagues, “he has my full backing”.

Football managers know the writing is on the wall when the board feels compelled to issue a statement supporting them. Sunak may now have a similar sinking feeling, particularly as Badenoch is tipped by some as his replacement.

Rishi Sunak receives an England shirt alongside striker Harry Kane and England manager Gareth Southgate (Picture: Darren Staples/WPA pool/Getty Images)

The Prime Minister could try to spin the loss of 315 goals (sorry, we mean council seats) as a good result, but 480, equivalent to the Conservatives’ worst-ever local election result, would leave many Blues as sick as a parrot, as they say, and the chants of “sack the manager” would grow.

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