'Rishi Sunaks entitled ranty response is plain weird, you’d be forgiven for thinking he won an 80 seat majority & wasn’t given power via default'

The Prime Minister has been mocked over an interview he did on Sunday with Trevor Phillips in which he expressed irritation at being repeatedly questioned about ‘polls and politics’.

During an interview on the Sky News show Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Rishi Sunak was grilled on when he would call a general election and about his plummeting personal ratings. 

Speculation is rife over when Sunak will call an election, amid rumours of a Tory plot to oust him after the local elections. While the latest polling has found Sunak’s personal satisfaction rating had fallen to a record low as 75% of the public said they were dissatisfied with his performance. 

Sunak has garnered a reputation for being tetchy during media encounters, appearing irritable when asked basic questions or pressed during press conferences. At numerous points during the interview with Trevor Phillips, Sunak appeared to be frustrated by the line of questioning. 

“This is about the fourth or fifth question you’ve asked where you’ve talked about polls and politics, and you know what, I’ll tell you what I do every day, I get up and I work hard for the country and the things that they care about,” Sunak insisted.  

“And you know what, I’m not distracted or focused on polls.. I’m focused on the substance of what I can deliver.”

With half of voters hoping for an early election, Sunak was pushed during the interview on whether he could call a general election for July. However viewers have mocked his “ranty response” after a tense back-and-forth about election date speculation. 

Just answer the question and we can move on, Philip pressed to which Sunak replied, “no i’m not going to do that”.

He went on: “You‘re going to try and do this, and I remember you did the same thing when I was Chancellor before budgets, you’d try to put put this tax to me or this tax cut and say ‘you’re ruling this out, and I’d give you the same answer every time’. 

He added: “You should just listen to what I’ve said, same thing all year.”

Sunak refused to rule out a July election as he accused the interviewer of “focusing on personality stuff” at one point, when confronted with his plummeting personal ratings.

One X user commented: “Rishi Sunaks entitled ranty response is plain weird, you’d be forgiven for thinking he won an 80 seat majority & wasn’t given power via default.”

Another said: “Under very gentle scrutiny, Sunak accuses an impartial TV broadcaster of  “trying to make a political point.

“Trevor Phillips is simply asking a question which Sunak is trying his best not to answer.”

Times journalist Hugo Rifkind commented: “It’s weird how accustomed to this sort of thing we are. Sunak’s exasperation here comes from a flat presumption that other people have simply no right to know when there’s going to be an election or a tax rise and it’s inherently petty and annoying of them to want to find out.”

Another X user commented: “Scoured the Sunak i/v w @TrevorPTweets for a clip that reflects just how entitled, arrogant, and rude RS was, but frankly you should watch the whole thing. This is a man not listening because absolute deliberate denial is his only psychological defence.”

Nearly 300,000 people signed a petition which closed in February demanding the government call a general election. A survey carried out in March found the most popular date for a general election was in May, with more than a quarter of Tory voters agreeing. Half of voters in the Labour Together survey thought waiting to hold an election in January was “unacceptable”.

(Image credit: Sky News / YouTube screenshot)

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward

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