Sunak: Not fair to say Tory big beasts kept off presidential-style campaign
The Prime Minister insisted Cabinet ministers have ‘been campaigning lots’.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Rishi Sunak has denied claims that other high-profile Tory figures have been kept away from the campaign trail, insisting “they’ve all been campaigning lots”.
The Prime Minister was joined by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron in north Devon on Tuesday, but has been accused of running a presidential-style General Election campaign with little involvement from other Cabinet ministers.
Asked about the claims, he told reporters on the visit: “I don’t think that’s quite fair.
I can’t turn on the TV screen without seeing Grant (Shapps)
“They’ve all been campaigning lots, right? Like David’s (Cameron) been out and about a lot campaigning in lots of places… Claire (Coutinho) was with me yesterday. Penny’s (Mordaunt) been doing the multi-party debate, right?
“So you’re seeing the full team out there doing lots of campaigning.”
He also joked that “as far as I can tell, I can’t turn on the TV screen without seeing Grant (Shapps)”.
Defence Secretary Mr Shapps has been a regular feature on the morning broadcast round, where he conceded on Monday that a Conservative victory was unlikely.
Mr Sunak continued: “We’re a big broad team.
“Everyone’s working really hard. I’m seeing lots of colleagues, we’re in touch the whole time and we’re all fighting very hard on the choice at this election.
“And we’re all four-square behind the choice, which is tax cuts with the Conservatives versus tax rises with the Labour Party.”
The Tory campaign has so far centred on the Prime Minister, despite his dismal personal ratings.
According to an Ipsos survey last week, Mr Sunak’s personal favourability score was minus 34 for Mr Sunak, with almost three in five people saying they felt unfavourable towards him.