It took No 10 until the end of the day to condemn his words as "racist and wrong"; Rishi Sunak didn't comment until prime minister's questions the next day.
It was not the only difficult moment for Sunak in what was one of the most troubled weeks since he become prime minister, and which followed a budget that failed to deliver any shift in the polls.
The former Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson defected to Reform, angering the right of the party, who felt he should not have been stripped of the whip, and the rest, who believed it was a mistake for Sunak to have given him the role.
The anxiety among MPs about their electoral prospects with Sunak at the helm has led to another bout of leadership speculation.
"This is the weakest Rishi's been, and the most danger he's been in," said one former minister.
This story is from the March 22, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the March 22, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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