Sunak faces inquiry for a second timepublished at 10:16 GMT
Theo Leggett
Business correspondent, reporting from the inquiry
Image source, PA Media
For the past three weeks the Covid inquiry has been delving into the economic response to the pandemic. We’ve heard from former ministers, treasury officials and central bankers.
Today, Rishi Sunak will take the stand for the second time. When he first appeared, in December 2023, he was still prime minister.
He faced a tough interrogation over his time as chancellor and his role in Boris Johnson’s government.
He was asked about missing WhatsApp messages, his attitude towards his former boss and whether it had been fair for people in 10 Downing Street to describe the Treasury at the time as a “pro-death squad” after it was accused of being “opposed to public health interventions”.
He rejected this characterisation, and he also defended his Eat Out to Help Out policy, which he claimed helped protect millions of jobs.
Nowadays, he’s a backbench MP, and it remains to be seen whether the questioning this time will be as tough.
The inquiry has heard a fair amount of praise for interventions made on his watch, such as the furlough scheme and the parallel scheme to help the self-employed, as well as the various loan schemes.
But there have also been criticisms – that too many people fell through the cracks, and that some businesses struggled to get the support they needed.
