Is Rishi Sunak, the people's chancellor, about to lose his crown?

The furlough scheme and eat out to help out' have seen his popularity soar. But few ministers survive a recession unscathed

When Sajid Javid was thrown out of No 11 in February 2020, few outside Westminster had even heard of his successor. Rishi Sunak had been an MP for less than five years, a minister for two, and had just a few months of experience in the cabinet in the relatively junior role of chief secretary to the Treasury.

Nor was Sunak helped by the manner of Javid's departure - he resigned after Boris Johnson told him to sack all his advisers, a move Javid later said no self-respecting minister would accept". Sunak, in acquiescing to the decision, was portrayed as a young loyalist unlikely to ruffle any feathers.

Related: End of UK furlough scheme means needless loss of 2 million jobs'

How people go to work, where they live and many other aspects of their lives are going to change, creating new industries and shrinking others