Rishi Sunak claims general election ‘not what the country wants’ - Twitter immediately proves him wrong

Rishi Sunak, the Conservative prime minister with an estimated net worth of around £529 million, has tried to speak for the whole country again with his latest comments about an early general election, and over on X (formerly Twitter), that’s gone about as well as you’d expect.

As Sunak’s first party conference as the Tory leader is marred with speculation over whether he plans to scrap the northern arm of the HS2 rail project - a decision he’d make, if indeed he does, as a PM no one voted for – Sky News’s Beth Rigby asked Sunak why he hasn’t called an early general election to let the public have their say.

During a sit-down interview, she said: “You haven’t got a mandate for your country, you haven’t got a mandate from your own party, you’re now making huge decisions about scrapping part of HS2 without anyone – apart from a core of your own MPs – giving you this job.

“If you are really serious about the long-term, why don’t you just go to the country?”

Sunak replied: “Because that’s not what the country wants! I go out and about every day; it’s not what anybody wants.

“What people want is politicians making a difference to their lives.

“I think the British people are completely and squarely behind my approach to net zero.”

[twitter_embed https://twitter.com/SkyNews/statuses/1709192829031854216 text="Rishi Sunak has told Sky's @BethRigby that a general election is "not what the country wants", as well as insisting he is unafraid of going to the polls.\n\nRead more: https://t.co/cw5AHzV9r5" name="Sky News" screen_name="SkyNews" id="1709192829031854216" created_ts=1696338300 iframe_id="twitter-embed-1709192829031854216" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=849 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=722]

The question was about a general election, Rishi.

Thankfully, Rigby was quick to bring it back to that topic, offering a brutal assessment in response.

She said: “You’re afraid of an election. You’re afraid of the election ‘cause you’ll lose.”

Seemingly forgetting that he reportedly plans to scrap delivering the northern arm of HS2, Sunak replied he was “just getting on with delivering for people”.

He also suggested he believes he will still be PM and Conservative Party leader by the time the next party conference comes around next year, adding that his government has got “lots to get on [with] and deliver”.

Pressed on whether he will remain in post after the next election, he continued: “Of course. I’m working very hard to deliver for the country, Beth.”

Yet X users were immediately on hand to point out to Sunak that they were quite up for a general election, with #GeneralElectionNOW trending at number four on the social media platform’s UK trends list.

[twitter_embed https://twitter.com/IanDunt/statuses/1709185053991821493 text=""That's not what anyone wants". Just to confirm: I personally really really want it." name="Ian Dunt" screen_name="IanDunt" id="1709185053991821493" created_ts=1696336446 iframe_id="twitter-embed-1709185053991821493" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=773 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=759][twitter_embed https://twitter.com/StevePeers/statuses/1709187129014702355 text="A general election is "not what anybody wants" - an obvious lie" name="Steve Peers" screen_name="StevePeers" id="1709187129014702355" created_ts=1696336941 iframe_id="twitter-embed-1709187129014702355" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=773 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=735][twitter_embed https://twitter.com/BWallArthur/statuses/1709184559231684801 text="Sunak says the country "doesn't want a general election."\n\nGive this a retweet if you want a #GeneralElectionN0W" name="Bradley Wall \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udf0d" screen_name="BWallArthur" id="1709184559231684801" created_ts=1696336328 iframe_id="twitter-embed-1709184559231684801" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=273 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=321]

Awkward.

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