Rishi Sunak is starting to look like a normal politician again

The chancellor was always going to become less popular when the bills for furlough were presented, and now it is happening, writes John Rentoul

Are the remains of his stratospheric poll ratings in this box? (PA)

The chancellor is still the most popular politician in the UK, and the only one with a net positive rating – a distinction that was once held for some time, before he became prime minister, by Boris Johnson. But it was a truism that Rishi Sunak’s popularity would not last when bills to pay for the policies that earned him the public’s approval started to be presented.

Last week was the week when Rishi Sunak came back down to Earth and started to look like a normal politician again. The Budget itself was generally well received, but it crystallised the realisation that the Conservatives are a high-tax as well as a high-spending party, and that puts the chancellor back among the ranks of mere mortals.

Public opinion may be resigned to the need to pay for furlough, business support and testing during the pandemic, and it may accept the argument for higher taxes to clear the NHS backlog and maintain public services generally, but the people “don’t like it”, as Sunak himself said in his Budget speech. “I don’t like it, but I cannot apologise for it,” he said. “It’s the result of the unprecedented crisis we faced and the extraordinary action we took in response.”