Jeremy Hunt was dealt a poor hand when he entered No 11 in October 2022. The public finances were in a mess after Liz Truss and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, had splurged £45bn on tax cuts in a mini-budget that was considered so reckless it spooked financial markets.
Interest rates spiralled higher, leaving Hunt to wrestle with rising debt-financing costs at a time when double-digit inflation was already pushing up the cost of providing government services.
