Why Rishi Sunak can’t escape blame for the Covid-19 crisis

The Chancellor recklessly encouraged workers back to offices, diners to eat out and told the public to “live without fear”. " data-adaptive-image-768-img=" " data-adaptive-image-1024-img=" " data-adaptive-image-max-img=" "> In a cabinet of duds, Rishi Sunak is typically regarded as having had a good crisis. After becoming Chancellor in February 2020 at the age of just 39, he is now the country’s most popular politician and the favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader. Sunak’s popularity is not hard to comprehend. In the early months of pandemic, as Johnson fatally prevaricated, the Chancellor acted decisively by introducing the furlough scheme – paying 80 per cent of...