This week Sajid Javid played another political blinder. He was the first to offer his resignation from Boris Johnson’s government, tipping Rishi Sunak into action, which in turn caused a resignation stampede. It is the former Chancellor who has taken the main brunt of accusations of disloyalty, but it was the then Health Secretary, who acted first on July 5. This Wednesday, at a key moment for Liz Truss’s campaign after a serious stumble, with a rapid U-turn on an ill-pitched regional pay boards policy, Javid struck again. He sank the knife into his friend and Treasury protégé “doomster” Sunak and came out in support of Truss and her boosterism tax cuts and spending.
The timing was impeccable. The boost to her campaign also came ahead of a day of dire economic reckoning, set to send anxiety rocketing among the populace who cannot vote in this race. (One wonders who is advising Javid, himself a former protégé of George Osborne, as he’s beginning to look like the knife-wielding pawn in other people’s games, with Javid likely to be the biggest loser). Yesterday, the Bank of England announced the biggest interest rate rise in decades, amid warnings of a recession to last five financial quarters, starting before Christmas. Inflation, meanwhile, is forecast to rise to between 13 and 15 per cent. Ofgem had further gruesome news: the regulator announced household energy prices will be set every three months not six, meaning another price cap could rise to £3,359 from October, getting higher in January again.
