Justin Tallis/PA
Rishi Sunak kept a low profile on Sunday as media minders sought to shield the embattled prime minister in the wake of his D-Day departure gaffe.
With just weeks to go before the General Election, the man hoping to keep the keys to Number 10 avoided journalists as he quietly canvassed support in Bedale, Yorkshire.
On Saturday a planned “huddle” with journalists, providing an opportunity for reporters to quiz the prime minister, was pulled with the Tories citing time constraints.
Sky News’ political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh said it shows Mr Sunak is “clearly feeling the pressure”.
She said: “The media haven’t been allowed anywhere near him really.
“We have just been sent some photos from his Flickr account to show proof he has been door-knocking, but that is all the information we have got from him.”
Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth added: “If Rishi Sunak is going to come out with yet another desperate wishlist of manifesto proposals this weekend, the least he can do is face up to proper public scrutiny over how he plans to pay for them, what the impact on people’s finances will be, and when he intends to deliver on the first set of pledges he made to the British people 18 months ago.
“But instead, he has spent the day ducking the cameras and dodging all those legitimate questions; just another farcical episode in this calamitous Conservative campaign.”
It comes as rumours circulated that Sunak could quit before the July 4th election.
Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries, a fierce critic of Mr Sunak, suggested in a late-night social media post on Saturday there were “rumours around tonight that Sunak’s about to fall on his sword”.
But Cabinet minister Mel Stride, who helped run Mr Sunak’s leadership campaign, said the Prime Minister would “absolutely” be in place for polling day and suggested there was time for the Tories to turn around their campaign.
He told Sky’s Sir Trevor Phillips: “To your point about whether ‘all is lost’, we have four weeks, that’s a long time in politics.”
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