Rishi Sunak crunched his election campaigning into overdrive today as he seized on Keir Starmer admitting he tries not to work past 6pm on Fridays.
As the election battle enters its penultimate day, the PM visited an Ocado plant in Bedfordshire before 5am, and has a frenetic schedule culminating with a 10pm rally in London.
The Tories have branded Sir Keir a ‘part-time Prime Minister’ and accused him of wanting to work a ‘four-day week’ after he spoke about his determination to hold on to his family time while in office.
The Labour leader also boasted that getting an historic ‘supermajority’ on Thursday would be ‘better for the country’, despite warnings against giving any party untrammeled power.
Sir Keir’s allies condemned the Tory attack line as a ‘disgrace’ and ‘scraping the barrel’, saying he would work the hours needed for the job.
It comes amid faint glimmers of hope for the Conservatives in the latest polls, with signs Sir Keir’s massive lead could be narrowing and the Reform surge has peaked. More survey are set to be released later as the anticipation builds.
As the election battle enters its penultimate day, the PM visited an Ocado plant in Bedfordshire before 5am
Mr Sunak picked up breakfast from McDonald’s for staff and travelling reporters
Mr Sunak chatted to staff at the Ocada plant in Luton this morning
Sir Keir has spoken of the importance of spending time on Friday evenings with his wife’s family, who are Jewish and observe the Shabbat
The latest row erupted after Sir Keir, who has a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter with his wife Victoria, told Virgin Radio he was more relaxed after spending time with his children.
‘We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
‘There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.’
Sir Keir has spoken of the importance of spending time on Friday evenings with his wife’s family, who are Jewish and observe the Shabbat.
Mr Sunak told reporters last night: ‘I haven’t finished at six ever.’
Visiting a Morrisons supermarket in Oxfordshire, Mr Sunak dismissed criticism of his campaign and said he was not heeding grim polls.
‘That’s his view. That’s not going to stop me from working as hard as I can over these final few days to talk to as many people as possible about the choice,’ he said.
‘And I was up at four this morning talking to workers at a distribution facility. I’m here talking to you. I’ll be out till the last moment of this campaign because I think it’s a really important choice for the country.
He added: ‘I will continue as I’ve said fighting for every vote till the last moment of the campaign.’
Mr Sunak also denied that his switch from talking about his plans to warnings about a Labour landslide was the language of defeat.
‘No, I’m very much still talking to people about our plan,’ he said.
A Conservative Party social media post said: ‘Keir Starmer has said he’d clock off work at 6pm if he became prime minister.
‘You deserve better than a part-time prime minister. The only way to prevent this is to vote Conservative on Thursday.’
Tory mayor of the Tees Valley Ben Houchen warned Sir Keir’s deputy, Angela Rayner, would be left in charge.
‘Angela Rayner in charge of the country because Slippery Starmer needs his beauty sleep. God forbid the Government need to do anything after 6pm.’
Touring broadcast studios this morning, health minister Maria Caulfield said: ‘He has indicated that he wants to kind of have a more flexible working life approach. That’s just not possible.
‘I’m just a junior minister and I work seven days a week, often close to 20-hour days at times. So, it is slightly concerning that that’s the approach he’s taken.’
But shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the jibes were a ‘total disgrace’.
Asked on Times Radio if he would work beyond 6pm on a Friday, Mr Streeting said: ‘I’m sure I will be and I’m sure Keir will be doing so too.
‘The attacks on him are a total disgrace and it shows how far these people have fallen, how heavily they’re scraping the barrel and why they need to be removed from office on Thursday.’
He added: ‘Let me say something about the Conservative Party. The party that turned Number 10 into a giant lockdown party now wants to lecture others on their work ethic.
‘It’s a disgrace and the stench of their lies and hypocrisy is even more overwhelming than the vomit they left for Downing Street cleaners, and like those cleaners we’ll clean up the Tories’ mess too if we’re given the chance on Thursday, and as far as I’m concerned, given their behaviour this morning, that change can’t come soon enough.’
In a wide-reaching interview with The Times, Sir Keir insisted he would be a ‘serious Prime Minister’ if he enters No 10 this Friday as the polls are the predicting.
And he appealed for a ‘strong mandate’ so he could make difficult decisions to give a boost to the economy.
‘It’s the mindset change we’ve talked about,’ he said. ‘Do we need a strong mandate for that? Yes, we do.
‘Because these changes are difficult and the sense of the whole country wanting those changes is important in terms of the platform on which we stand to take the country forward.’
Mr Sunak was shown the inner workings of the plant in Luton this morning