When will Covid fraud catch up with Rishi Sunak? 

Remember Rishi-mania? It came around the time of the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme, which was designed to help the restaurant trade recover from the Covid lockdowns. As chancellor, Sunak won over stomachs –­­ and hearts – with his generous financial scheme to help everybody through the crisis. Cometh the hour, cometh the Treasury. 

But it is now quite clear that hundreds of millions, even billions, of pounds were stolen from the taxpayer through these schemes. And for all his supposed competence as a technocratic administrator, in reality, Sunak presided over fraud on an unprecedented scale. It may be just a matter of time before this massive scandal catches up with him.   

Sunak, a notorious hard worker, excels at exuding an air of professionalism and efficiency. It’s how he became Prime Minister – admittedly only once all the other contenders had been eliminated. Even now he is regarded by the markets as a tough-minded former banker.