Zahawi faces shortest chancellorship since 1970 – and may be glad of it
Gordon Brown used to joke that there were two sorts of chancellors: the ones who failed and the ones who got out in time. Nadhim Zahawi looks like being in the second category.
Appointed by Boris Johnson on 5 July as he struggled in vain to remain prime minister, Zahawi is likely to be the shortest-serving chancellor since Iain Macleod died in office in 1970. Macleod was in charge of the Treasury for a month; Zahawi’s tenure will probably last only twice as long.
Funny things happen in politics. Despite all the polling evidence to the contrary, Liz Truss might not end up becoming prime minister. And even if, as expected, she sees off the challenge from Rishi Sunak, she could surprise everybody by keeping Zahawi in place.
The chancellor’s aides say he is enjoying the challenge of the job and was pleased with the way a speech on financial services at the Mansion House was received.
But there is no getting away from the fact that he feels like an interim appointment, the equivalent of the caretaker football manager given the job for a few weeks while a permanent replacement is found. Even the Mansion House speech was a re-commitment to a policy stance agreed under Sunak.
Truss is already thinking about who she wants in her cabinet, and there have been strong rumours that she will move Kwasi Kwarteng from the business department into 11 Downing Street once she replaces Johnson. In February, the last time the energy price cap was lifted, Sunak was ready with measures to ease the burden on consumers that he could announce within hours.
When the new price cap is announced on Friday, Zahawi’s role will be to reassure the public that help is on the way, if not necessarily from him. The Treasury has drawn up a list of options but it
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