It is surprising that Rishi Sunak, one of the most economically literate of prime ministers, has got himself into such a muddle. He cannot seem to decide whether responsibility for getting inflation down lies with him or with the Bank of England.
Having promised at the start of this year to halve inflation by the end of it, the prime minister now gives the appearance of wanting to blame anyone but himself for the stubbornness of high inflation and the possibility that he will miss his target.
After the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to raise the interest rate by half a percentage point rather than the more usual quarter-point, Mr Sunak said on a visit to an Ikea factory in Kent: “I support the Bank of England in what they are doing.” He also pointed out that many other countries are grappling with similar problems.
