In what has now become tradition, Rishi Sunak’s team has published a series of pre-spring statement pictures featuring the chancellor that were immediately seized upon on social media.
Ahead of reveling how he’ll push taxpayers’ money around, the image-conscious politician was variously pictured preparing his speech and looking relaxed as he held forth to aides.
Wednesday’s financial update is set against a difficult backdrop. Sunak is trying to square the circle between burnishing his low-tax Conservative credentials with one eye on the Tory leadership, and actually raising taxes to pay for pandemic policies and NHS promises. There’s also pressure to provide relief from the rising cost of living and added strains from the war in Ukraine.
While crunching the numbers is Sunak’s priority, so-called optics matter too. One picture stood out from the set:
We can assume the A4 sheets of paper laid out in two neat rows represent the latest version of the speech Sunak will deliver to the Commons. It’s a bit like a footballer carefully positioning their kit in the changing room ahead of the big match.
Anyway, Twitter was ready to do what Twitter does.
It was pretty easy to photoshop
It had a certain posed energy
There were echoes of a gameshow classic
Two gameshows, in fact
These were some of the other pictures of the chilled-out chancellor
And the article he’s reading in one of the photos seems fascinating
It’s very much not the first time Sunak has been instantly memed.
On the eve of the budget in October, the Treasury published another series of photographs of the chancellor preparing for the big day.
The pictures included one of a Twix bar and a can of Sprite, and another with his dog Nova. The most commented on image had Sunak standing next to an adviser while sporting socks and £95 Palm Angels’ sliders.
And on the eve of his summer 2021 statement to parliament, the chancellor was pictured with a £180 “supermug”.
On his desk was the Ember Travel Mug, reportedly a gift from his wife, Akshata Murthy, the daughter of a billionaire businessman, which retailed for up to £179.95 online.
One less successful piece of stage management saw Sunak on the stairs of No. 11, alongside other members of his Treasury team.
The oddly-framed picture brought to mind films including Titanic and The Shining, as many pointed to chairs being photoshopped out of the shot.