The new chancellor is continuing his rapid recent ascent which saw him only become a junior minister in 2018, and first enter the cabinet, as education secretary, less than a year ago.
The key to the 55-year-old Stratford-upon-Avon MP’s rise is his stint from 2020 to 2021 as undersecretary of state in the health department – or “minister for vaccines”, in the shorthand for that job.
