In 2019’s end-of-year survey, ConservativeHome panelists named Rishi Sunak as their “One to Watch for 2020“, and what a sound assessment! 2020 has seen Sunak catapulted from relative political obscurity to fast becoming a household name. He has been a consistent favourite in our Cabinet Survey ratings, so it is no surprise that he is our minister of the year.
Clearly people have been impressed with Sunak’s management of the Coronavirus crisis, from his introduction of the furlough scheme, to the inventive “Eat Out to Help Out” discount, all within his first year of being Chancellor. He has shown himself to be remarkably calm under pressure, dealing with one of the worst financial crises in history, while working to make Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” and “green revolution” ambitions a reality. Sunak’s ascent and likeability factor have recently been documented by Lord Ashcroft in his book Going for Broke: The Rise of Rishi Sunak.
As part of our survey, we also gave respondents the opportunity to name other ministers they felt had performed well this year, represented in a worldcloud below:
Liz Truss came out as the most popular by far (in short, she came second in our minister ratings), gaining 50 per cent of the “Other” vote. Having secured trade deals covering 61 countries, along with her recent “Fight for Fairness” speech, it is no wonder that the Trade Secretary has gained such popularity.