As warnings go, it was not a very veiled one. After speculation that Rishi Sunak could move Jeremy Hunt out of No 11 to make way for a fresher face, the chancellor gave a broadcast interview about the economy, saying on Thursday: “The plan is working, but what we have to do as a government is that we stick to that plan, we don’t veer around like a shopping trolley.”
It will not have escaped notice within the Conservatives that “shopping trolley” was the nickname given to Boris Johnson by his former aide Dominic Cummings, on account of his chaotic and unpredictable approach to governing. Hunt’s underlying message to his party appeared to be: “Stick with me and our strategy or create an impression of Johnsonian chaos in an election year.”
