Keir Starmer raised his game as Rishi Sunak fell flat at Sky News leaders event | Political news

Keir Starmer struggled after a slow performance in last week’s leaders’ debate. But the same cannot be said of Rishi Sunak – who made a mistake and, once again, found himself apologizing for his D-Day debacle.

No wonder Rishi Sunak wanted a one-on-one debate with Sir Keir Starmer. After being credited with a narrow victory in last week’s ITV debate, he came second.

THE Prime Minister fell flat under rigorous questioning from Sky News political editor Beth Rigby. And he found the public hostile to him over the NHS, the economy and even immigration.

So it’s no surprise that the YouGov snap poll was released less than half an hour after the program ended. marked the performances like 64% for Mr Keir and only 36% for Mr Sunak.

What a turnaround in just over a week.

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From the start, Sir Keir was clear that he needed to up his game after last week, when he was too slow to challenge or refute. Alleged £2,000 tax grab over Mr Sunak’s work.

As the 90-minute program drew to a close, Mr Sunak looked deflated by the audience’s criticism and almost as if he could not wait for the end.

Mr Sunak even stumbled upon an error that will reinforce his critics’ claim that this millionaire prime minister is out of touch with the cost of living that ordinary people face.

When asked by a father about his daughter’s struggles to buy a house, Mr Sunak spoke of a property costing £425,000. In Grimsby? Oh dear. Really, Prime Minister!

A Rightmove search for Grimsby reveals that of 914 properties currently listed for sale in the town, only 13 are on sale for £425,000 or more. His political opponents will seize it.

After criticizing taxes last week, Sir Keir wasted no time in hitting back, saying he would not take any lessons from the Tories on the issue. And later, when challenged by a member of the audience, he took the time to argue in favor of Labour’s controversial VAT policy on private schools.

“It’s a tax break that we’re taking away,” he said. “It’s not a new tax.” And his plea for improving the standards of public schools with the money saved was applauded.

This was a much better performance from Sir Keir than last week. He upped his game: this time, the KC and former Director of Public Prosecutions was more Rumpole Of The Bailey than Mark Darcy from the Bridget Jones films.

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For example, he continued talking when Beth Rigby tried to cut him off. Naughty, but determined. Here, he was much more assertive than last week.

Mr Sunak, by contrast, was flat compared to his combative performance on ITV. He had to apologize for his D-Day snub not once but twice, begging for forgiveness again.

The D-Day fiasco This appears to have damaged the Prime Minister’s confidence – and it won’t have been helped by several heckles from a hostile public. Even on the conservatives’ supposedly strong issue, immigration, he seemed to struggle.

He was upset by a question from Rigby about why he had called the election before the first round. Rwanda flights are about to take off and, surprisingly for a prime minister renowned for being a spreadsheet wizard, he didn’t know the numbers on net migration issues.

Towards the end of Mr Sunak’s harsh public questioning, a former Tory campaigner attacked him not only over his D-Day mistake but also over the Queen being left alone at Prince Philip’s funeral during Boris Johnson’s partygate scandal.

The public reaction to Mr Sunak has confirmed that many voters want to punish the Tories for the failures of former prime ministers Mr Johnson and Liz Truss, and not just in the last two years.

Sir Keir leaves Grimsby in good spirits for the launch of the Labor manifesto in the morning. For Mr Sunak it was a bad evening and, unless the Tories make a comeback soon, the mood among the party’s candidates and activists will be grim and potentially mutinous.

Of course, there are still three weeks until Election Day. But with opinion polls still poor, time is already running out for Mr Sunak and the Conservatives.

Sir Keir even said at one point: “The first day we enter government.” Beth Rigby immediately recovered it during her momentary deviation. He just smiled.