Rishi Sunak did not even deny how the low chances of him returning to Downing Street as prime minister are this morning.
BBC Breakfast told the Conservative leader that polling guru Sir John Curtice said, “there is more chance of lightning striking in the same place twice – and a bit more – than there is of Rishi Sunak remaining prime minister.”
Presenter Sally Nugent then asked the PM: “Do you accept that?”
Sunak stuttered slightly before replying: “That’s his view – that’s not going to stop me from working as hard as I can over these last few days to talk to as many people as possible about the choice.”
He added: “I’ll be out until the last moment of this campaign because I think it’s a really important choice for the country.”
Sunak said the Tories could “continue to cut people’s taxes, bring down migration, a clear plan to stop the boats, protect people’s pensions”.
“I think those are really important issues that will have an impact on people,” he said.
The Conservatives actually took the tax burden to a 70-year high under Sunak’s authority, migration has reached record levels since he got into office, and the Rwanda deportation plan is yet to forcibly send a single asylum seeker overseas.
Meanwhile, the Tories have increased state pension by 4% since being in power – only slightly higher than the 3.5% increase seen under Labour.
Sunak is expected by all polls to lose Thursday’s general election to Labour, with some pundits expecting his party to lose by a historic margin.
The PM – and his party – have recently tried to scare voters into backing them by warning of a Labour “supermajority”.
So Nugent asked Sunak if the large Tory majorities secured by his predecessors Boris Johnson and Margaret Thatcher were potentially “dangerous” and gave government “too much power”.
“My point to everyone is that this is a really important choice about our country’s future,” the prime minister replied.
Seemingly acknowledging his plummeting popularity, he said: “Of course I appreciate the frustrations with me, with the party, it’s been a difficult few years.”