It didn’t take long for Rishi Sunak’s opponents to bring up his electoral defeats.
During his first PMQs, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was quick to remind the prime minister that Sunak did not become the prime minister through a general election or a vote from the Tory membership.
His place in No.10 was secured after his opponents in the most recent leadership contest dropped out – meaning he was the last one standing.
As Starmer noted: “The only time he ran in a competitive election, he got trounced by the former prime minister, who herself got beaten by a lettuce.”
Sunak was the frontrunner in the summer leadership race to replace Boris Johnson when Tory MPs were casting their votes, but when it went to the general membership, Liz Truss won.
However, she only lasted 49 days in government in total. Her time in No.10 was so short, that a week before she officially quit, the Daily Star set up a Live cam featuring a lettuce to see which could last longer.
When she quit, the newspaper officially declared the lettuce to be the winner – delighting the internet.
Now Sunak is finally in office, having been put in No.10 only by around 193 Tory MPs who nominated him, there have been growing calls for a general election.
Starmer asked: ″Why doesn’t he put it to a test, let working people have their say and call a general election?”
As the third PM to stand on the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto – and substantial changes such as Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have swayed public opinion since – the opposition have been urging the government to let people go to the ballot box.
Starmer also brought up the viral clip of Sunak from the summer where he told Tories in Tunbridge Wells that he was actually taking funding away from “deprived urban areas”.
Speaking during the last leadership contest back in July, Sunak said in the footage: “I managed to start changing the funding formulas to make sure areas like this are getting the funding they deserved.
“We inherited a bunch of formulas from Labour that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needed to be undone. I started the work of undoing that.”
Three months later, Starmer reminded the Commons of this clip and quoted former Tory Party chair Jake Berry, who said after the video went viral: “In public, he claims he [Sunak] wants to level up the North.
“But then he boasts he wants to funnel vital investment away from deprived areas. He says one thing, and does another.”
Starmer also claimed former Tory Party chair Berry was sacked on Tuesday because he “told the truth” about the former chancellor.
As Starmer concluded: ”Even his own side know he’s not on the side of normal working people.”