Sunak says he’s never finished work at 6pm is a lie and I’ve seen him with my own eyes

[CormorantStrikesBack]

So Starmer says he tries to reserve Friday evenings for family time and Rishi sticks the boot in saying “'I haven't finished at six ever.'”

so how come I’ve seen him mountain biking in the north York moors in the middle of the afternoon both before and since becoming prime minister!

This^
he could take a day or two of leave. He worked irregular hours and he could take Monday off after working Saturday and Sunday.
Im absolutely not a conservative voter. I’m looking forward to them out but let’s judge them on their records which are absolutely awful.

That's an excellent point, which I hadn't thought of at all.

If it wasn't so important, it would be funny. Sunak possibly is more hardworking than some of the recent incumbents, but trying to discredit an opponent because once a week he tries to do right by his family, is hysterical (in the original meaning). They're looking more and more desperate by the day.

I listened to a talk this morning by someone quite famous and respected in politics, having worked for governments of both colours, now an academic (outing to me to tell you who) who thinks there's a (small) possibility LibDems could be the opposition, that's how bad it is. He reckons the few seats Tories hold will be down to Palestine.

I think it was Dan Snow who commented on Twitter that Winston Churchill led the country through WW2 more or less permanently sleep deprived and three sheets to the wind on whisky. Taking a couple of hours off on Friday evening is nothing.

And doubtless Starmer too plans his workload around these downtimes.

It's an absurd and petty and just pointless thing for Sunak to say. And foolish, because as OP shows, he's hoist by his own petard.

I want politicians to tell me i should vote for them by promoting their own policies and pledges, not by slagging the opposition off. Or at least attack/discredit the opposition’s policies/pledges/history. Not personal stuff.

When DH was working in an all hours culture, he was almost always home to do bath and bed, but would work again afterwards. I don't think people doing these jobs properly are ever really off duty.

It's not saying much to point out that Sunak works harder than Boris Johnson. I've seen static caravans that work harder than Boris Johnson.

And maybe Starmer works a Sunday after having Friday evening off.

Oh.

I did think the Starmers' Friday evening routine might be because of Sabbath, but it didn't occur to me that Sunak's (bizarre and daft) jibe might have been leaning into that.

Yuck.

For a lot of self-employed people and people in high pressure roles, is that unless you're Trump or Boris, you see your time off in hours rather than days.

For example, I'm self-employed, my last day off was Christmas Day, but I've had 2-6 hours off in many given days since then to go and do fun activities or exercise.

My working day is 18 hours long and never officially ends until I'm asleep. I would laugh at the idea of my working day ending at 6pm, it's usually 2am at the earliest. But you would have seen me at the colosseum in Rome for 3 hours and probably assumed I'd finished work for the day or had a day off, when in reality I was working until the point I got there and after I immediately went back to my phone to do sales chats, talk to my staff, etc. on the way out, and worked as normal from the late afternoon into the early hours other than another hour break to go out for dinner.

Well said 😂

Yes I couldn't agree more with this!!

Honestly, I'm voting conservatives but I've been searching for reasons to change my mind on why I should vote for labour, Lib Dem or reform. Everything is just so childish and isn't informative, convincing or changing my mind.

I've also asked people I know to give me genuine reasons why, not just because they hate the tories or hate Sunak. The whole of the UK is paying for Covid so I believe the cost of everything would be like this no matter who it was. Apart from that, I get no other reasons.

The whole of the UK is paying for Covid so I believe the cost of everything would be like this no matter who it was.

Have you seen the prices elsewhere in Europe?

What's your reasoning behind voting conservatives?

It’s all that poverty Sunak grew up in that’s shaped him - no sky tv ingrained in him that he had to work hard in order to afford it as an adult, and he can’t shake it now.

Funnily enough Obama always managed to protect family dinners. (Drump didn't but then that latter "gentleman" famously opted out of tedious work like briefing papers as well.)

I mean I knew Sunak was getting desperate, but this latest attack on Starmer for spending an evening with his family is just bloody embarrassing!! Talk about scraping the barrel!

Agree! He’s shot himself in the foot.

As others have said, Starmer's wife is Jewish and their children are being brought up as members of that faith. Friday night's are the start of the Sabbath and include a family meal. Sunak really needs to think how this will end as it looks like he is critical of Judaism in general and Starmer's wife in particular. Almost like she is calling the shots. FWIW there are circumstances in which it is not only acceptable to break the Sabbath but is essential. I'm not an expert on this, just to be clear. But anyway Sunak looks like an idiot on this.

I agree with more of the policies compared to others

Yes!

so. out. of. touch.

This was a discussion on LBC today - I only heard a small bit whilst driving - seems people were fairly split whether it’s good/bad but folk kept raising he shouldn’t have left it until 2 days before to mention it. I honestly don’t understand the massive discussion on it, or concern. It actually implies he expects to be working every other night/weekend too. No one works 16 hrs/7 days per week nor should be expected to do so, or good decision making is likely to go out the window.
To keep a couple of hours free as in - blocked out and please don’t book meetings - is more than normal and reasonable and good for everyone. I assume this is a space where he will not have regular or non urgent meetings and he won’t be going through regular and non urgent meetings, drafts, reports etc. He very obviously would do anything urgent. I actually like to think the person running the country is organised, plans and prioritises effectively- he will have learned and practiced this style for decades.
I do believe Rishi is a hard worker (unlike some previous incumbents) and I assume he too doesn’t work 24/7 and hope he spends family time - maybe he doesn’t have a set time to do so but I accept he’s an adult and can manage his own life effectively. I think it’s a non story although I think it’s good practice to plan such things if you’re in a hugely busy job, and sharing how you do so seems a good thing to do. Also good for staff tbh who know they won’t have to book a discussion at 6pm on Fridays!

Which policies?

Yes, I've worked for very important people. They all have times during the week when they prefer not to be bothered, and I'd adhere to that where possible, but they're always contactable if really needed.