Risky Sunak as relative gets Covid
RISHI Sunak sits in a packed Commons on Monday despite a close relative testing positive for Covid, we can reveal.
The Chancellor nestled between Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel as the PM delivered his statement on the Downing Street lockdown parties.
He appeared despite official guidance “strongly advising” people to limit close contact with others if somebody in their household tests positive.
Mr Sunak’s actions are in contrast to the PM, who isolated when his baby girl
Romy caught Covid last month. Treasury insiders denied Mr Johnson had set a precedent that ministers should follow.
They said Mr Sunak had felt it was important to be “visible and supportive” of the Government on the day Sue Gray published an update of her report.
The Chancellor later attended a meeting of the Tories’ 1922 committee in a show of solidarity with his boss.
And he led Treasury questions in the House of Commons chamber yesterday.
Mr Sunak, who was one of the only ministers wearing a face mask on the frontbench on Monday, tested negative before the Commons statement.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, sitting on Ms Patel’s other side, later tested positive for Covid and was forced to miss her trip to Ukraine with the PM.
The legal requirement to stay at home if you have a positive case in your household is no longer in place.
But official NHS guidance still “strongly advises” people to limit close contact with others in crowded spaces and work from home if possible.
A spokesman for Mr Sunak said: “The
Chancellor has followed the legal requirements to the letter.
“He has taken daily lateral flow tests and has limited his social contact where possible, whilst also ensuring that he is able to continue to conduct important Government and Parliamentary business as the public would expect.”
Mr Johnson isolated for a week last month but at the time faced accusations he was hiding behind the illness. It came as he faced scrutiny over his attendance at a lockdown garden party in No10.