‘He hasn’t got a clue.’
The Prime Minister has been widely criticised for suggesting that people should be willing to give up paid work to start their own companies.
The comment was made during the PM’s meeting this week with tech billionaire Elon Musk, as part of the government’s two-day artificial intelligence (AI) summit in London.
The pair spent 40 minutes together in front of an audience of business leaders. The controversial owner of X said that the UK needed a ‘mindset change’ which embraces a culture that creates new businesses. To which the Prime Minister replied:
“How do you transpose that culture from places like Silicon Valley across the world where people are unafraid to give up the security of a regular pay cheque to go and start something and be comfortable with failure?”
“You’ve got to be comfortable failing and knowing that that’s just part of the process.”
The PM added that it was “a tricky cultural thing to do overnight,” but “an important part of creating” an environment that breeds start-up companies.
The comments were immediately criticised.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour MP and shadow paymaster general, asked: “How out of touch is Rishi Sunak?”
“After 13 years of the Tories, the public are enduring the worst cost-of-living crisis in memory, and he is spending his time telling Elon Musk that he wishes they would give up their jobs and be ready to fail.
“He hasn’t got a clue.”
Darren Jones, Labour MP and shadow chief secretary to the treasury, said:
“It gets worse! Not only has Rishi Sunak spent all his time setting up an interview with Elon Musk… he’s now telling everyone they should be happy to give up their pay. Out of touch, much?”
Noting the incredulous of the remark during a cost-of-living crisis, Bill Esterson, Labour MP and shadow minister for transport, posted on X: “Rishi Sunak says he wants people to be more willing to give up ‘the security of a regular pay check and be comfortable with failing.’ That’s his message in a cost-of-living crisis. Is he trying to show how out of touch the Tories really are.”
Another dismayed viewer wrote:
“Multi millionaire gambler hedge fund manager tells people they should risk everything – highlights completely he is clueless in the real world.”
Sunak’s ‘out of touch’ comments during a discussion with the richest man in the world, who has an estimated net worth of $232 billion, comes as millions of people are living in poverty in Britain. According to the government’s official statistics, in 2021/22 around 14.4 million people were living in poverty, around one in five people.
New research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that in 2022, 3.8 million people experienced the most extreme form of poverty, marking a 61 percent increase since 2019. More than 1 million of those affected were children.
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Image credit: YouTube screen grab
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