It is six months since Rishi Sunak entered 10 Downing Street.
Few incoming Prime Ministers in modern times have had a more daunting inheritance.
In the wake of Liz Truss’s brief but calamitous premiership, the Conservative party was in turmoil and the economy in crisis.
At the time, the most realistic prospect was that Sunak would be no more than a caretaker leader before a Labour landslide.
Yet now, after an impressively capable start, there seems a chance he might do much better than that. In response to his assured, persuasive leadership, public fury at the Government appears to have dissipated.
At Westminster, some Tories even whisper that Sunak might just hang on to power, helped by an improving economy and a return to ministerial competence.
That could just be wishful thinking. After all, the economy is fragile, inflation remains in double digits and there is no end in sight to the public sector strikes.
There is no evidence of a sudden surge in the popularity of the Tories. Sunak’s party is still well behind in the polls, but Labour’s lead has shrunk in recent months, down from more than 20 points to 14 points today.
In addition, 16 per cent of voters are still undecided. Downing Street believes most of this large group will break for Sunak.
Sunak deserves a lot of credit for the change in mood. He has proved to be a far more shrewd operator than critics expected, bringing calm to the markets and stability to public finances.
He was not only the architect of the Windsor Framework, which settled Britain’s trade relations with the EU but also precipitated the collapse of the SNP with his adept handling of the row over the Scottish gender identity policy.
One disgruntled former minister says witheringly that Sunak “will not leave his ideological stamp on the country”. But his steady, cool-headed pragmatism is the key to his success. That is why he is bringing hope to the Tories – and starting to worry Labour.
