Analysis: Backlash begins against a Chancellor rich enough to walk away

Rishi Sunak is facing such a brutal backlash from his own colleagues after the Spring Statement you wonder why he bothers.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulates Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak after he delivered his Spring Statement

The Chancellor delivered his financial update last Wednesday so inconsequential the Prime Minister was promising to go further before it had even got dark.

Once considered the natural front runner to replace Boris Johnson amid partygate, Mr Sunak’s star has now dimmed so much ministers are even whispering he could be moved.

This is the man of Dishy Rishi, eat out to help out, furlough, and every other financial scheme the Government pretends makes up for not increasing Universal Credit.

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Economics experts had warned in advance of the statement that millions of Brits face being forced into absolute poverty, and you’d be hard pressed to find a Tory MP who didn’t think more support was coming.

Yet substantial support did not, and instead of justifying this, Tory MPs are instead pinning the blame on Mr Sunak without really offering an alternative.

Journalists are now being told he’s an out of touch billionaire, as if wealth and privilege are traits his party are suddenly ashamed of.

The criticism was helped by Mr Sunak’s excruciating media appearances where he shouted on Radio 4, discussed all the types of bread in his house, and was photographed filling up a car that was not his in a bid to look normal.

These gaffes are funny, but none of it points to genuine ways his colleagues would have done things differently.

Politics is mainly about messaging, but it is also the battle of ideas.

We hear the Prime Minister had called for more energy support, but was blocked by the Chancellor.

If this is true, how would it have been funded after all the Covid expenditure?

There are no easy answers to the biggest fall in living standards since ONS records began, but hearing criticism of Mr Sunak’s background rather than alternatives gets us nowhere.

If I was that wealthy, I absolutely would not be spending it crunching numbers trying to fix a crisis or scheming to become Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak has ambition, and his critics would do well have to their own ideas before seeking to deny it.