When Rishi Sunak rose to his feet in the Commons yesterday to deliver his first Budget speech, Boris Johnson had every reason to feel nervous.
Less than a month had passed since Sajid Javid quit as Chancellor in a spat with the Prime Minister over special advisers.
Few voters had ever heard of Sunak when Johnson promoted him to the second most powerful job in government.
When Rishi Sunak rose to his feet in the Commons yesterday to deliver his first Budget speech, Boris Johnson had every reason to feel nervous
And if preparing a Budget in that time-frame wasn’t pressure enough, Sunak then had to rip it all up and start again a week ago.
He needed to deliver a coronavirus Budget with a multi-billion-pound package of measures to ensure that the NHS does not collapse, that all workers advised to self-isolate get sick pay – and that the UK does not lurch into recession.
On top of that, he had to deliver on Johnson’s vow to ‘level up’ the nation and reward the Red Wall –voters in the traditional Labour constituencies in the North and Midlands who ‘lent’ the Tories their support to deliver an election landslide.
Well the Prime Minister need not have worried. By the time Sunak had delivered his Johnsonian ‘We’re getting it done’ mantra at least half a dozen times in the first ten minutes, it was clear that this was a man at the top of his game – and enjoying every moment.
Indeed, a less secure politician than Johnson might have thought Sunak had done a little too well. By the time he sat down to rousing Tory cheers, Johnson must have been thinking what I and many Tory MPs were thinking: Is Sunak his successor?
Well the Prime Minister need not have worried. By the time Sunak had delivered his Johnsonian ‘We’re getting it done’ mantra at least half a dozen times in the first ten minutes, it was clear that this was a man at the top of his game – and enjoying every moment
While it may seem wildly premature to speculate on who will follow a man who has just won a landslide election victory, that is what they were talking about in Westminster bars last night.
With Labour resembling Monty Python’s dead parrot, Johnson could hold on to the keys of No 10 for a decade.
But Sunak, at 39, has time on his hands. He wasn’t even born when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.
The impact of his show-stopping performance is all the more striking bearing in mind the charisma-free zone that has been Her Majesty’s Treasury in recent years.
But Sunak, at 39, has time on his hands. He wasn’t even born when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979
Philip Hammond was dubbed ‘Eeyore’ or ‘Spreadsheet Phil’, while Javid’s metronomic speaking style destroyed any hope of him moving to No 10.
A former banker and self-made multi-millionaire like Sunak, he lamely tried to bolster his image, referring to himself in the third person as ‘The Saj’. It just made him look desperate.
The lack of stardust extends right round the Cabinet table. No one doubts Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s brains or ambition, but he scores a D-minus for his people skills.
Home Secretary Priti Patel’s stock has fallen since she was accused of bullying officials. And many say she lacks the intellect to be prime minister.
Deputy Prime Minister in all but name, Michael Gove is viewed as too clever by half and Machiavellian in his actions. It is too early to predict that if Johnson were to be knocked over by the proverbial No 11 bus that trundles past Downing Street, Sunak would jump into his shoes. But if you wanted to place a bet on him being the next prime minister, by the time you read this the odds will have been slashed.
Deputy Prime Minister in all but name, Michael Gove is viewed as too clever by half and Machiavellian in his actions. It is too early to predict that if Johnson were to be knocked over by the proverbial No 11 bus that trundles past Downing Street, Sunak would jump into his shoes. But if you wanted to place a bet on him being the next prime minister, by the time you read this the odds will have been slashed
Yes, his Budget debut was that good. Sunak’s bright and breezy tone and polished but classless vowels reminded me of Tony Blair.
He even inserted a couple of folksy, Blair-style glottal stops in his speech and he didn’t learn that at £40,000-a-year Winchester, where he was head boy, any more than Blair did at his school, the £36,000-a-year Fettes in Edinburgh.
For all his dazzling rhetorical skills, Johnson’s knowledge of economics extends little beyond extolling the virtues of ‘boosterism’ – whatever that means.
He could never match Sunak’s effortless command of numbers combined with the verve to ram home that ‘we’re getting it done’ without looking daft.
More to the point, Johnson knows that. Sajid Javid quit after he refused to take direct orders from the Prime Minister, claiming it would be a humiliation.
Sunak was so keen to become Chancellor, that he agreed to follow orders.
But if Sunak sees himself as a future prime minister – and those who know him well say that he does – he will need more than the energy, confidence and mastery of the subject that he showed yesterday.
He will have to build a reputation for being his own man – while remaining loyal to his boss.
It’s a delicate balancing act, but Rishi Sunak made a good start yesterday.