‘Eat out to get Covid’: Is this the real reason Rishi Sunak wants to hold back the WhatsApps?

The former chancellor’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme helped to lift the post-lockdown gloom, but might come back to bite him as PM, writes Andrew Grice

It’s becoming clear that the Covid inquiry is going to frustrate Sunak’s attempt to move on from the disastrous Johnson and Truss regimes (PA Archive)

The Covid pandemic turned Rishi Sunak from someone who was virtually unknown outside the Westminster bubble to a politician everyone knew, and most people had reason to like.

The normal image of an austere chancellor trying not to spend money was miraculously transformed; he threw £400bn at the pandemic. His furlough scheme matched the gravity of the crisis, saving thousands of jobs and businesses. His Eat Out to Help Out scheme launched in August 2020 and helped to lift the gloom, temporarily at least. As people enjoyed their discounted meals, many said “thanks, Rishi” or saw his name on menus and posters.

Now, however, some at Westminster are wondering whether his scheme – designed to boost the economy and hospitality industry and reduce the public’s “fear factor” – is about to return to haunt the man who went on to become prime minister.