'I'm Not Tetchy' Says Tetchy Rishi Sunak, Tetchily

Rishi Sunak has denied being “tetchy” despite widespread criticism of his leadership style.

The beleaguered prime minister said he was “passionate” but admitted he sometimes becomes “frustrated” when things don’t go to plan.

His comments, in an interview with The Spectator, emerged just hours after he was criticised for responding angrily to a question from Keir Starmer about chil homelessness.

A screengrab of the snarling PM delivering his answer in the Commons quickly went viral on social media.

Sunak has also previously appeared thin-skinned and irritable when facing tough questions about his government’s record.

Asked whether he was “tetchy”, Sunak said: “I don’t understand that. There’s nothing tetchy.

“But I am passionate. When things are not working the way I want them to work, of course I’m going to be frustrated.”

It also emerged yesterday that Sunak’s personal popularity ratings have now sunk as low as Boris Johnson’s when he left office.

A YouGov poll published on Wednesday showed the prime minister now has has a net favourability score of minus 49, a ten-point drop from late November.

Immediately after Johnson’s resignation, YouGov recorded a score of -46, sinking to his lowest point of -53 a month later. 

At prime minister’s questions yesterday, Labour MP Chris Bryant asked him: “What’s worse, losing your WhatsApp messages as tech bro, losing £11.8bn to fraud as chancellor, presiding over the biggest fall in living standards in history, or desperately clinging on to power when you’ve become even more unpopular than Boris Johnson?”

The prime minister replied: “What matters to me is delivering for the British people and that’s exactly what we are doing.”