Is next general election going to be a 1992 re-run?

William Hague, a former leader of the Conservative Party, has apparently drawn similarities between the state of his party in 2023 and 1990.

In both instances the Tories were behind in the polls in difficult economic circumstances.

The Conservatives elected a new leader in 1990, John Major, who polled better than the main Tory brand. Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives newly elected leader is, according to recent YouGov, polling 60% of voters view the current Prime Minister unfavourably whereas 67% have an unfavourable view of the Conservatives.

I’ve had a dig through the archives of Conservative Party advertising during the 1992 general election and found an execution which lists the 10 things the party claimed as achievements that would be under threat if Labour were elected.

I was struck that Sunak’s new “5 pledges” will almost certainly be deployed in the same way at the next general election.

The test for Sunak will be whether he can maintain enough focus on his 5 pledges that voters will experience loss aversion when he accuses Labour of putting them under threat at the next general election.