As UK’s Rishi Sunak increasingly looks like a lame duck, does he have any real options?

The notion of a lame duck leader is most commonly associated with the United States. The term refers to a president who will soon be succeeded in office – a situation that most commonly applies at the end of a second (and final) term, before the president has left office but after their successor as been chosen by the electorate.

Since US presidential elections are held in November but the new leader doesn’t assume office until the following January, there is a period in which the president can struggle to pass legislation. This might be due to resistance from a Congress running down the clock or because salience is shifting from their programme to that of their successor.

The UK system is different, but Rishi Sunak also appears to be struggling to get much done. The parliamentary timetable finished unusually early on a number of days in late June and early July. The government, in the words of one opposition MP, “doesn’t really have a programme”.

And with an election guaranteed to take place by the end of January 2025, the sense that the clock is running down on a government that has reached the end of its term is hard to avoid. So might Sunak also be called a lame...

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