Was Rishi Sunak’s £2,000 tax hike claim – rubbished by the Treasury – worth it?

ITV

James Bowler, the most senior civil servant in the Treasury, may have just hammered the final nail into a misfiring Tory general election campaign.

With Labour more than 20 points ahead in most polls and the Conservatives heading for fewer than 100 seats, there was a sense of desperation for Rishi Sunak ahead of Tuesday’s televised debate. It was a do-or-die situation.