POLITICAL ROUNDUP: Rishi Sunak is new PM but what does that mean for Kent?
In the space of less than eight weeks, Britain has had three different prime ministers, its shortest serving prime minster in 300 years, and most recently, a first British Asian prime minster.
Rishi Sunak took to the role from Tuesday, despite losing the Conservative leadership contest to Liz Truss a matter of months ago.
For Ms Truss, slashing taxes lead to a stock market slump she was unable to recover from, with the resignation of Home Secretary Suella Braverman adding a nail to what seemed like an already sealed coffin.
Mr Sunak will be hoping to reverse the economic collapse with a full Autumn statement on November 17th previously planned for Halloween.
But the re-appointment of Suella Braverman into the home office has come under scrutiny.
She resigned from her post last week after admitting to breaching the ministerial code.
Many from within her own party have condemned Ms Braverman’s return to cabinet.
Claire Pearsall, Conservative Councillor for Ash and New Green in Sevenoaks is one of them: “I’m not convinced that you can have somebody that has broken the ministerial code, has potentially leaked sensitive information via private email addresses, and that person being in charge of national security.”
Ms Pearsall is still optimistic for Rishi Sunak’s prospects in number 10, but has concerns about the impact of the recent political turbulence on those living in Kent: “I think you need to look at it on merit, and he has done exceptionally well.
“He’s very very clever.
“I think there’s some real problems in Kent.
“We’ve problems with the ports, with the border controls, you’ve got the rail and road infrastructure in Kent which is near to breaking point.
“Kent, I think, is just taking the burden for a lot of things without having any solutions put to it.”
Some people believe that the conservatives have had their chance, and that the public should have their say on who’s in power.
Vince Maple, leader of the labour and cooperative group on Medway council, holds this view: “The British people deserve so much better than the revolving door of chaos that we’ve seen from the government.
“The coronation of Rishi Sunak by just over 100 Conservative MPs shows that we need a general election now.”
The revolving door at number 10 seems to be stationary for now. We’ve had three days so far. How long will Rishi Sunak last?
