Rishi Sunak says greatest weakness is perfectionism in front of banner with a typo

The race to find Boris Johnson’s successor as leader of the Conservative Party continues, and with leadership contests come hustings – the first of which, run by ConservativeHome, took place on Friday afternoon.

With the event taking place over Zoom, it was as chaotic as you’d expect it to be.

Foreign secretary Liz Truss struggled to find the mute button, trade minister Penny Mordaunt talked about cats at one point, but the biggest blunder came from former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The question was one you’d expect to hear in your typical job interview, but it proved particularly effective here: what is your biggest weakness and how would you overcome this?

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said it was “allowing my sense of humour to look like I’m flippant about issues”, Liz “Pork Markets” Truss admitted she has sometimes been “excessively over-enthusiastic”, and Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Tom Tugenhadt acknowledged he talks about the military a bit too much.

Mr Sunak, meanwhile, replied: “Most people know I probably have a reputation for working hard and getting across the details. I think you’ve got to make sure in these jobs, certainly the more senior you get, that you don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

“Part of what I’ve had to do over the time, I’m constantly working at, is getting that balance right between across the detail and understanding every aspect of something, and then realising I know as much or I have done as much as I need to on that and my time is better spent elsewhere.

“That’s something that you can constantly get better at, but that’s something I’m always working on.”

Ah, the classic ‘perfectionism’ answer. It would be a fair response, if Mr Sunak wasn’t sitting behind a promotional banner which spells ‘campaign’ as ‘campiaign’.

How reassuring when one of the key talking points is around politicians sticking to their word…

And lo, the ridicule followed on social media:

Ironically, it seems Mr Sunak doesn’t have an ‘i’ for detail.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.