The BBC welcomed Rishi Sunak into his role as the country’s new prime minister by using an on-screen graphic that described him as a “c***” and “t***”.
During a live broadcast outside Downing Street on Tuesday, the broadcaster displayed the results of a poll, which asked people to describe the Tory leader in one word.
“Savanta ComRes, a polling research company, came up with a word cloud and people sent in their thoughts and this is the conclusion,” the BBC reporter said.
A “word cloud” graphic was then seen on screen, which included the offending words together with several other not exactly complimentary labels, including “slimy”, “boring”, “idiot”, “backstabbing” and “liar”.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sunak was also described as “capable”,
“clever”, “confident”, “nice” and “intelligent”.
Seemingly oblivious to the expletives on screen, the reporter observed: “Rich is the overwhelming word, alongside capable, okay, good and clever.”
On Tuesday, Sunak promised to “fix” the mistakes made by Liz Truss in his first speech as prime minister.
Speaking from outside 10 Downing Street, Sunak paid tribute to his predecessor, saying he “admired her restlessness to create change”.
“She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country – it is a noble aim,” he said.
But in a stinging attack on her 49 days in office, he added: “But some mistakes were made.
“Not born of ill-will or bad intention – quite the opposite in fact. But mistakes, nonetheless.
“And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister in part to fix them. And that work begins immediately.”
Sunak also turned his fire on former prime minister Boris Johnson, saying that while he was “grateful” to him for his “incredible achievements as prime minister”, “the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual”.
The new PM was named Tory leader yesterday after his rival Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the race when she failed to secure the 100 MP nominations needed to get on the leadership ballot.