When “leave” unexpectedly won, Sunak’s career took off. He served in several junior ministerial posts before being appointed chancellor of the exchequer — head of the Treasury — by Johnson in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit.
An instinctively low-tax, small state politician who idolises former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he nonetheless forked out billions in government money to keep people and businesses afloat during the pandemic.
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His furlough program, which paid the salaries of millions of workers when they were temporarily laid off, made him the most popular member of the government — a status he burnished with slick social media messages that rivals and critics said stressed his own brand more than the government’s.
