The chancellor’s family fortune was shielded from his own tax collectors – how could he expect the public not to be outraged?
During the furore about who picked up the bill for the lavish makeover of the prime minister’s flat, the chancellor’s people made a big thing of declaring that there was no risk of Rishi Sunak generating a stink such as wallpapergate. The Treasury released a statement pointedly letting it be known that Mr Sunak had paid for the refurbishment of his family quarters in Downing Street from his own deep pockets. Shortly afterwards, an admiring Tory MP chuckled to me: “Rishi is rich enough to buy his wallpaper himself.”
After the many tawdry episodes associated with Boris Johnson, the idea that his next-door neighbour was scandal-free recommended Mr Sunak to Tory MPs as their next leader. The contrast between the two men – a cash-grubbing prime minister splattered with sleaze versus a chancellor advertising himself as the squeaky-clean, family man – also made Mr Sunak the more attractive figure to voters.
