It’s a big day for Rishi Sunak.
And how do we know that? From a flurry of expert commentary previewing today’s budget?
No, we know that because his social media feeds have gone into overdrive, littering the internet with slickly produced gems like this tastefully shot portrait of the chancellor inexplicably reading a diary sideways.
Sunak has gone all out to impress the electorate, a fact that has not gone unnoticed on the opposition benches.
Here’s Labour MP Alison McGovern on Tuesday plugging the chancellor’s many social media channels, a list that makes Grant Shapps reading out his Twitter handle in the Commons seem positively modest.
She said: “I know that the Tory post-Brexit agreement really screws creative professionals and their ability to get work, but he does love his videographer, and his Instagram account is testament to his adoration of professional photographers.
“His Twitter feed tells the world how much he appreciates his stylist, and I heard that his Pinterest is extensive.
“Good luck to him, I say. Some people want substance from their policies, but it is absolutely clear that the Tory party would prefer a shiny veneer.”
She’s not wrong – even his weekly newsletter has received the geek chic treatment.
Ask anyone what they remember most about 2020 and it’s likely you’ll get the same answer – it was the year Rishi Sunak gave his first ever budget.
Everyone knows where they were when he delivered it – perhaps at a nursing home seeing their mum for that last time that year, or driving to the supermarket to stock up on loo roll. But they were all thinking the same thing – oh my, that Rishi is very dishy.
In honour of Year of the Sunak, the chancellor released a video earlier this week detailing how he excelled and thrived in his new job as hundreds of thousands of other people were losing theirs.
Yet despite being nearly six minutes long, Sunak airbrushed from history his biggest pandemic achievement – the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme which added up to 17% to the UK employment rate number of Covid cases.
Then suddenly, on Tuesday, all the high-end production values made sense. An old clip resurfaced of a pre-chancellor Rishi Sunak, and it is fairly excruciating to watch.
“I’m a coke addict. A total coke addict,” Sunak tells two bemused schoolboys, before descending into pit of sheer panic at the realisation of what he has just said.
“Coca-Cola addict! For the record, just to be totally clear, I am a Coca-Cola addict. I have seven fillings to show for it.
“So now...so yeah, exactly, I could get in trouble. So I genuinely do have seven fillings because I got through a lot of the stuff when I was young, so people should not...don’t, don’t, don’t do that.
“But I have one a week. I’m only allowed one a week. So I’m an enormous Coca-Cola fan. Coke. Er, yes. I won’t drink Diet Coke. No Coke Zero. Never any Pepsi.
“And actually my favourite drink is called Mexican Coke. Because you get it and it’s special Coke. It’s the only place in the world where it is made with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup, for the people who are really interested in this kind of thing.”
Such is the merriment factor of the clip that none other than Schofe himself awarded it two tears of laughter emojis. Two!
It’s worth noting that Sunak is a little off the mark with his Coca Cola fact – the Mexican version of the drink is made with cane sugar rather than the US version which uses high fructose corn syrup.
But the cane sugar version is available in other countries including... the UK.
Details aside, it was a perfect opportunity for some absolute rinsing on social media.
Speaking of the speech, you can catch it on any on of Sunak’s social media feeds live from 12.30pm.