A ‘very happy anniversary’ it does not seem to be, for either Giorgia Meloni or Rishi Sunak.
As they both complete one year of their speakership, none of the two leaders have too much to celebrate.
While they were both elected as conservatives, they soon went about doing their level best to play along both European and Globalist policies.
Now, one year has passed, and their speakerships went about as well as you would expect: they have not satisfied their conservative voters, and the liberal voters were never theirs to begin with.
A combination of weak economic growth and high interest on Italy’s huge debt are among the main problems facing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after her first year in power – an anniversary sadly marked by an abrupt announcement that she was breaking up with her long-time partner.
Meloni’s coalition is the first to be led by a woman in her country’s history, having won a sweeping election victory.
Meloni will soon surpass the 14-month ‘average postwar term life’ for Italian governments.
She came into power seen as the most right-wing leader since Benito Mussolini. But she was soon to move in ways to assuage this ‘fear’.
Reuters reported:
“Yet Meloni, 46, set about quelling foreign concerns of possible extremism, forging good ties with allies by adopting a strongly pro-Western, EU-friendly stance and pledging staunch support to Ukraine in its war with Russia.”
She did deliver somewhat for her conservative grassroots constituency by defending the traditional family, protecting Italy’s cultural heritage – but let them downb with her vain attempts to stem absurd levels of migrant arrivals.
“‘We have worked tirelessly to repay the trust and to demonstrate with facts that it was possible to build a different Italy’, she said in a video message this week.”
The economic rebound from the pandemic lockdowns has ground to a halt, and Italian growth will be among the lowest in the euro zone next year.
“That makes it harder for Meloni to keep her tax-cutting promises and makes Italy’s debt, equal to 140% of national output, vulnerable to market sell-offs.”
Meloni also has had serious personal problems to deal with. She announced last week that, after 10 years, she was separating from TV presenter Andrea Giambruno.
“On the international front, as well as her backing for Ukraine Meloni has largely avoided confrontation with Brussels despite her eurosceptic past. She has also dropped the calls she used to make in opposition for a naval blockade to prevent boats leaving north Africa, despite her inability to halt the influx of migrants.”
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak completed a year in office with precious little to celebrate, as the western meddling on wars in the international stage worsen the already grim backdrop to his domestic challenges.
Conservatives mostly fear defeat in the upcoming general elections, that must be called by the end of 2024.
‘Tories’ trail between 15 and 20 points behind opposition Labour in polls — a gap that was maintained during Sunak’s year in office, as he was unable to move the needle in this regard.
Pollster Ipsos found that, for 65% of respondents, Conservatives did not deserve to be re-elected, while only 19% supported them.
Associated Press reported:
“’I know this year has been tough’, Sunak said in a message marking the anniversary. ‘And there is still work to be done to help hardworking families across the country, but I’m proud of the steps we’ve made’.”
Sunak came to power after the 44-day Liz Truss speakership. She programmed massive tax cuts without budget provision for the compensation of these funds. Markets went into turmoil.
“’Some mistakes were made’, Sunak said diplomatically as he stood outside 10 Downing St. on Oct. 25, 2022. ‘And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister, in part, to fix them’. He promised his government would ‘have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level’.”
With markets appeased, Sunak patched up relations with the European Union, frayed during Brexit.
“He announced five goals for his government, including halving inflation, which peaked at 11.1% in late 2022, getting the economy growing, reducing a health care backlog and curbing the number of migrants reaching Britain across the English Channel in small boats.”
Sunak had some success in taming inflation and bringing about some degree of economic growth.
But the health system remains broken, the plans to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda as is blocked in the courts, and millions of people still struggle to pay their bills.
“Sunak has fought back by trying to reinvent himself as a shake-things-up populist. He announced he was slowing moves to phase out fossil fuels in order to save taxpayers money, curtailed an overbudget high-speed railway project and announced plans to effectively ban smoking for the next generation with a gradual ban on buying cigarettes.
He told delegates at the Conservative conference this month that he was making ‘long-term decisions for a better future’, but to critics it just looked like an incoherent hodgepodge of policies.”
Two resounding defeats in special elections last week deepened the Tory gloom, as they lost two long-held seats in Parliament.
Read more about Meloni and Sunak:
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