Sunak feared late Queen would grill him on Budget - but he left red book behind

09 September 2023 , 21:30

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The PM paid tribute to her “unbelievable contribution” (Image: Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak has revealed he worried the late Queen would put him through his paces ahead of his first Budget.

The PM paid tribute to her “unbelievable contribution” as he told of his nerves before his first audience with her in March 2020.

He said: “At some point someone said ‘Oh, you have to go and see the Queen tomorrow and brief her on the Budget’. Obviously I was stressed anyway. That didn't help my stress levels. So I showed up thinking, this is just a general chat I assume. And then one of the people at the palace said to me, ‘you are the first Chancellor that's come here without your big red folder’. He said this literally before I walked into the room."

He went on: “I thought yikes, is she going to ask me about the borrowing number in 2027/28. Thankfully, without betraying too many confidences, that was not the primary focus. I generally have a good grip of the numbers anyway, so that was alright. That was my first audience with her. I will never forget that moment."

He added: “One of the highlights of my time in Government was that time I spent with her and just talking about the economy and the country, because she had obviously just the most amazing historical perspective having seen I don't know how many dozens of Chancellors over the years and all the ups and downs of the British economy.

Out of touch Rishi Sunak doesn't regularly read papers or online news sites

“She had a great perspective on that, which actually gave me confidence. She was also very funny about things.”

At the G20 summit yesterday, Mr Sunak held talks with India’s PM Narendra Modi as he tried to make progress on a trade deal.

John Stevens