This has been Rishi Sunak’s worst month as prime minister

Despite seeing off Boris Johnson, wave after crashing wave of economic turmoil – from mortgage hikes to runaway inflation – is overwhelming any buoyancy Sunak might be feeling. It’s sink or swim for a PM who is starting to look out of his depth, writes Andrew Grice

Rishi Sunak’s halo is losing its shine (Getty)

Today's worse than expected inflation figures are grim for the government. The consumer prices index is unchanged at 8.7 per cent and, most worryingly, core inflation (which omits items such as food and energy) has risen to 7.1 per cent, the highest for 31 years.

The figures will increase the pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates tomorrow and will therefore compound the mortgage crisis. With the cost of a two-year fixed-rate mortgage now above 6 per cent, Conservative MPs are increasingly jittery about the political impact of higher payments on homebuyers. The penny has dropped that the pain is going to last until the general election – whenever Rishi Sunak calls it.

Tory backbenchers are demanding ministers “do something” but all the government has done so far is call a summit with mortgage lenders on Friday. This is the default response whenever ministers of any political hue don’t know what the hell to do but want to give the public the impression they are alive to their concerns.