Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to employees during the launch of their local elections campaign, at a bus depot in Heanor, northern England on March 22, 2024. (Photo by Darren Staples / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DARREN STAPLES/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Tory voters have delivered a damning verdict on Rishi Sunak as he ponders calling an election in the summer.
The beleaguered prime minister was branded a “waste of space”, “weak” and “out of touch” by a group who backed the Conservatives in 2019.
Their comments, in a focus group for Times Radio, come amid a fresh round of miserable headlines for the PM.
It was confirmed this morning that the UK slipped into a recession at the end of last year, while the Tories are tipped to lose up to 500 seats at the upcoming local elections.
His pledge to “stop the boats” carrying asylum seekers across the Channel is in tatters after record numbers arrived in the first three months of the year, and earlier this week two ministers quit the government.
The Conservatives continue to lag 20 points behind Labour in the opinion polls, and the views expressed in the focus group suggest there is no chance of the PM turning that around before polling day.
Asked to describe Sunak in a few words, one woman said: “Uninspired, unreliable and flaky.”
A male voter said he was “weak and out of touch”, while another added: “I say he is deeply disappointing and untrustworthy.”
One woman said he was “a waste of space”, with another female voter saying he is “privileged, useless and untrustworthy”.
"Waste of space."
— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) March 28, 2024
The Times Radio Focus Group, made up of people who voted Conservative in the 2019 election, reveal what they think of Rishi Sunak.
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Meanwhile, it has been reported that Sunak could call an election in June or July because of the turmoil in the Tory Party over his leadership.
He has repeatedly said it is his “working assumption” that the election will be in the second half of the year, leading most people to think it will be in October or November.
But according to the Daily Mail, Downing Street aides believe there is little prospect of Sunak holding the government together until then, meaning the country could go to the polls in early summer.
