When inflation bites, support for the Tories will further erode | Larry Elliott

Johnson's boosterism has worked for him so far. But the answers to the big questions are coming from the left

Inflation has hit its highest level in a decade. For most people, prices are rising faster than wages. Energy bills are soaring. The Bank of England is poised to raise interest rates next month. Personal taxes are going up in the spring. A tough winter looms.

It's not hard to see why Boris Johnson has hit the panic button with his plan to ban MPs from holding consultancy jobs. On its own, the government could perhaps ride out a sleaze scandal on the grounds that voters think (wrongly) that politicians are all as bad as each other. But sleaze plus a struggling economy is a potentially toxic mixture, especially since a long period of one-party rule makes voters susceptible to that most powerful of political messages: time for a change.

Larry Elliott is the Guardian's economics editor