'Silly Rishi': Tory hits out at Sunak's attack on Starmer

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

- KATE DEVLIN & ARCHIE MITCHELL

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 tomorrow. 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.”