A Tory minister has given a damning three-word verdict on Rishi Sunak’s performance at Sky News’ Battle for No10.
Mark Spencer failed to give his own Tory leader a perfect score, instead brutally ruling his performance as having “room for improvement”. Asked to score the PM’s performance out of 10, he said: “I think he was a good eight.”
When asked what would have made it a 10, he added: “I’ve tried to be as fair as possible. I think he performed very well to be honest with you.” He also oddly rated his own spin performance as a six out of 10. When pressed if there was room for improvement, he said: “There’s always room for improvement. I mean how would you rate me? I think I’m doing a good six out of 10 at the moment.”
Home Secretary also failed to give Mr Sunak a 10 out of 10, instead saying he did “brilliantly” when asked to give him a mark. He added: “Zero out of 10 for Keir Starmer.”
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Labour‘s Shadow Transport Secretary Lou Haigh gave the Labour leader a “solid 10 out of 10”. She added: “No notes” And Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth on the other said Keir Starmer “knocked it out the park”.
Speaking to reporters after the event, Mr Ashworth savaged Mr Sunak’s performance. “I think we’ve decided we don’t need to give you any spin because it writes itself,” he said. “I don’t know who was here with Rishi Sunak tonight but somebody really should have thrown the towel on stage frankly.”
A rapid YouGov poll showed the Labour leader won the debate by a margin of almost two to one – with 64% saying Mr Starmer performed best compared to 36% for Mr Sunak. It will come as a major blow to the under-fire PM who was pinning his hopes of reviving the Tories’ dismal fortunes on the TV debates – and just three weeks before the country heads to the polls.
The Labour candidate brands the Tory manifesto a “desperate wish list as long as your arm” adding that Mr Sunak “will make the same mistakes that Liz Truss ”.