Rishi Sunak mocked after being filmed using a hammer sideways
Rishi Sunak has attracted ridicule after video footage emerged of the Prime Minister apparently failing to use a hammer properly.
ITV News shared a clip of Mr Sunak using the side of a hammer rather than its face to beat bits of of metal jewellery during a visit to Yorkshire on Thursday.
The Prime Minister was trying his hand at The Emma White Jewellery Studio in Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley, during a meeting with small business owners in the region.
Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, wrote on X: âNooooo way !! What is he doing? Is this the first PM ever who has never seen a hammer, or paid for petrol, or filled up his own car?â
It marks the latest in a series of gaffes by Mr Sunak that have fuelled claims the Prime Minister is out of touch with the people he governs.
Mr Sunak was filmed struggling to use a contactless payment card to buy a can of Coca Cola at a petrol station in south London last year.
On a visit in New Cross the day after the Spring Budget in March 2022, the then-chancellor was seen trying to scan his debit card on the barcode reader being waved by the till assistant to scan the fizzy drink.
On the same visit, Mr Sunak was criticised for filling up a car with petrol to advertise his newly-announced fuel duty cut, which turned out not to be his own vehicle.
The chancellor shared a picture of himself to mark his 5p cut in fuel duty, but the car â a Kia Rio â actually belonged to a Sainsburyâs employee.
He later joked about the event, saying: âThe most embarrassing thing thatâs happened to me is I struggled to pay for the petrol in a car that wasnât my own.
âRight? So I think you all know about that, right? And since then someoneâs taught me how to use that contactless machine. And I tell you, itâs an amazing modern marvel this technology these days!â
The Prime Minister has repeatedly denied accusations that he is out of touch with the public. Asked during the Tory leadership contest last summer how he could relate to the public during a cost of living crisis, Mr Sunak insisted people should not hold his wealth against him.
âI think in our country, we judge people not by their bank account, we judge them by their character and their actions,â he said. âAnd yes, Iâm really fortunate to be in the situation Iâm in now, but I wasnât born like this.â
Mr Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, first entered the Sunday Times rich list last year when Mr Sunak was chancellor, making him the first frontline politician to be named in the annual ranking since its inception in 1989.
