Tory ex-cabinet minister accuses Rishi Sunak of ‘desperate’ attack on Starmer for wanting post-6pm family time

A former Conservative cabinet minister has branded as “desperate” Rishi Sunak’s attack on Keir Starmer’s plans for time with his family in Downing Street.

The Labour leader, whose wife is Jewish, has come under fire from senior Tories after he said he wanted to avoid work after 6pm on a Friday if he could.

The Tories have claimed his comments show he would be a “part-time prime minister” if elected on Thursday.

Mr Sunak even told reporters: “I haven’t finished at six ever.”

But former justice secretary David Gauke told The Independent: “The criticism of Starmer is silly and comes across as desperate. Attempting to put in place some regular, weekly family time into the diary is not only reasonable but desirable for a prime minister.”

He added: “There may be lots of good reasons not to vote Labour but this isn’t one of them.”

Sir Keir has said protecting time to spend with his son and daughter, 16 and 13, made him more relaxed and a better decision-maker. Many have also pointed out that Sir Keir’s wife Victoria is Jewish and the family observe traditional Shabbat dinners on Friday nights.

The row erupted after the Labour leader told Virgin Radio: “We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may. There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”

A Conservative Party attack on social media said: “Keir Starmer has said he’d clock off work at 6pm if he became prime minister.

“You deserve better than a part-time prime minister. The only way to prevent this is to vote Conservative on Thursday.”

Tory deputy chairman Jonathan Gullis said: “Let’s hope Putin doesn’t choose 6.01pm when he wishes to go any further with his illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.”

And Grant Shapps added: “Virtually every military intervention we’ve carried out has happened at night, partly to keep our servicemen & women safe. The British people will wonder who would be standing in for Starmer between 6pm & 9am – Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband? Defending Britain’s security isn’t a daylight hours only job.”

Sir Keir said the Tory attacks on his desire to spend Friday evenings with his family were a sign of “increasing desperation bordering on hysterical”.

Speaking at Hucknall Town FC’s ground in Nottingham, the Labour leader said: “Look, this is just increasingly desperate stuff.

“I actually can hardly believe that 48 hours before an election, the Conservative Party has got nothing possible positive to say as they go into it.

“I’ve been arguing throughout this campaign, you’ll have heard me many times saying they haven’t changed. They’re just the same. Nothing’s going to change. But they’re proving it.

“Because they’re not saying, ‘Look, if you vote Tory, vote Conservative on Thursday, these things will happen’. They’re just in this negative desperate loop.

“I just think it’s increasing desperation bordering on hysterical now.”

He later told Times Radio that “of course” he will be working Fridays, suggesting that it is laughable to suggest he would not.

Editor of the Jewish Chronicle Stephen Pollard was among those criticising the attacks on X.

“Disappointing to see Shapps piling in on this, which is a ludicrous distortion of what Starmer said,” he tweeted. “Grant Shapps knows full well what trying to keep Friday night free for Shabbat with the family actually means. And he knows it’s not clocking off and a refusal to be disturbed (unless you’re an Orthodox Jew).

And former Union of Jewish Students president Joel Rosen told Jewish News: “At the end of each week, I pause for Shabbat. It is a sacred and restorative time for me and many in my community.

“It is unedifying to see the Tories use this tradition in a cheap attack, sneering at a father for spending time with his kids whilst respecting his wife’s traditions.”

A Labour source hit back at the attacks, saying: “The only person who’s clocked off early in this campaign is Rishi Sunak at the D-Day commemorations.”

Doubling down on the attack line, health minister Maria Caulfield even accused the Labour leader of planning to work a four-day week if he becomes prime minister while finishing at 6pm every evening.

“Work-life balance is extremely important but he has indicated he wants a more flexible approach... and that is just not possible,” she told Sky News. “I am just a junior minister and I work seven days a week, often close to 20-hour days at times, and so it is slightly concerning that this is the approach he has taken.”

Sir Keir said his son and daughter are his “pride and joy” and “I don’t want to lose that time”.

He said that in politics “some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision-maker”.

“I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it.”

In an interview with Chris Evans, who used to play football with the Labour leader, Sir Keir suggested his children appeared unimpressed with his political career.

After winning The Spectator’s Politician of the Year award in 2022, he said his son asked: “How did you blag that, then?”

And when he was speaking at a fundraising dinner, his daughter asked: “Why would anyone pay to hear you speak?”

“They keep me very, very grounded,” Sir Keir said.