Johnson at bay, Starmer on the rise … and Sunak waiting in the wings

As the prime minister appears more out of his depth, his party looks to the far more competent and popular chancellor

As Tory MPs headed into the Covid-secure Commons for prime minister's questions on Wednesday, all they wanted was reassurance after some very worrying weeks.

Over the summer break, Boris Johnson's administration had performed U-turn after U-turn in a chaotic period of serial blundering that had culminated in arguably the worst mess of all - the exams fiasco.