The only weird thing about this story is that they are only now thinking about their digital currency, while some others have been doing it for years.
Actually, they have thought about
it for a long time, the Bank of England doesn't need to look downs they've already done a lot of research on it a long time ago, it's just that it didn't materialize, maybe the idea then quite ahead of its time. I can't find the older ones but in 2016 and 2017 there is a ton of publications on it.
As for Rishi Sunak, that's just an act, trying to look cool and trying to score another point after the Brexit, they will have their own Britcoin. Nothing real will come out of it too soon and it will not live to the expectation he tries to show as revolutionary.
Besides:
The Government and the Bank of England have not yet made a decision on whether to introduce a CBDC in the UK, and will engage widely with stakeholders on the benefits, risks and practicalities of doing so.
So it's a task force that will check first if it's feasible to make britcoin, not to create it.