It’s easy to condemn ‘eat out to help out’, but Sunak’s motivations were justified

The then chancellor Rishi Sunak places an ‘eat out to help out’ sticker in the window of a business during a visit to the Isle of Bute, Scotland, in 2020. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is always easy to spot the schoolboy error and be an expert on what should have been done. The inquiry into Covid-19 has been open season for those skilled at being wise after the event.

Despite the fact that nationwide lockdowns were untried and untested before Italy became the first country to implement one in early March 2020, the message coming out of the hearing is that Boris Johnson’s government should have shut down the country sooner and been more circumspect when lifting restrictions.