Is Boris able to stand up to Sunak?

The latest inflation figures have sent Tory MPs into a tizz again, unsurprisingly. There are a number of things that they’re upset about: the first is the ongoing refrain that their party should be cutting taxes, not imposing the highest tax burdens in living memory. Another is that Universal Credit is largely ‘an unfinished project’, in the words of one Red Wall backbencher who sees the impact of the malfunctioning benefit on his constituents. What both of these complaints have in common is that MPs feel the Treasury is deliberately pursuing the wrong policy: arguing that now isn’t the time to cut taxes and choosing to spend money on grants for low earners rather than targeting the help through what is supposed to be a very responsive benefit.

When I spoke to former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith about the first point, he was concerned not just about the tax burden but also about the way in which Boris Johnson seems to be losing the argument with Rishi Sunak on a regular basis.