London: After announcing a general election on July 4, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly spending his first Saturday with his closest adviser as he took the "unusual step" of a day off from public events in the first weekend of the campaign. " have picked up.
The 44-year-old Indian-origin leader is spending some personal time with his colleagues and family amid a mass exodus of senior members of Parliament from his crisis-hit Conservative party.
Cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom became the latest Tory frontliners to announce their decisions not to seek re-election in this summer's elections, bringing the number of party members quitting the race to 78.
Gove's announcement in a letter released on social media on Friday evening was expected amid tough challenges to the incumbent Tories in constituencies across the country.
Leadsom released his own letter shortly afterwards, writing to Sunak: "After careful consideration, I have decided not to stand as a candidate at the upcoming election.,
In his letter, Housing Minister Gove wrote that he knew "the toll office can take, as do those closest to me... There are no soldiers in politics. We are volunteers who willingly choose their fate. And the opportunity to serve is wonderful but there comes a moment when you realize it's time for a new generation to take the lead."
Former Prime Minister Theresa May is also among the senior MPs to resign, while former Defense Minister Ben Wallace has already announced his decision to leave frontline politics.According to sources cited by the Guardian newspaper, Sunak is taking the "unusual step" by abstaining from public engagements for a day in the first weekend of the election campaign and will instead spend it discussing election strategy with his close advisers.
While one source was quoted as saying that the idea that Sunak was hoping to reset his campaign was "ridiculous", another campaign operative claimed that "the Prime Minister usually spends the first weekend of the campaign in his Don't spend time talking to advisors".
The reports prompted opposition Labor MP Stella Creasy to post on social media, "Sunak needs a duvet day already. Britain needs a different government already."
However, the claims were soon dismissed, saying he was spending the day campaigning in his constituency of Yorkshire in northern England.Conservative minister Bim Afolami intervened to paralyze the opposition's criticism of the campaign.
"I think a lot of those things are false...I think the important thing is that we get this election right," he said.
It came as Sunak visited the Titanic Quarter in Belfast on Friday, where the world's largest attraction based around the ship is located, leading a reporter to ask if he was "captaining a sinking ship in this election".
Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer is also in full campaign mode and plans to use the day for public events designed to focus on his argument that the Conservatives have damaged the economy and the cost of living. Has increased.
It came as Labour's lead fell by three points in the first YouGov opinion poll after Rishi Sunak announced a snap general election on Wednesday.The poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday, shows the Conservatives are up 22 per cent, while Labor is down two to 44 per cent.
The 44-year-old Indian-origin leader is spending some personal time with his colleagues and family amid a mass exodus of senior members of Parliament from his crisis-hit Conservative party.
Cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom became the latest Tory frontliners to announce their decisions not to seek re-election in this summer's elections, bringing the number of party members quitting the race to 78.
Gove's announcement in a letter released on social media on Friday evening was expected amid tough challenges to the incumbent Tories in constituencies across the country.
Leadsom released his own letter shortly afterwards, writing to Sunak: "After careful consideration, I have decided not to stand as a candidate at the upcoming election.,
In his letter, Housing Minister Gove wrote that he knew "the toll office can take, as do those closest to me... There are no soldiers in politics. We are volunteers who willingly choose their fate. And the opportunity to serve is wonderful but there comes a moment when you realize it's time for a new generation to take the lead."
Former Prime Minister Theresa May is also among the senior MPs to resign, while former Defense Minister Ben Wallace has already announced his decision to leave frontline politics.According to sources cited by the Guardian newspaper, Sunak is taking the "unusual step" by abstaining from public engagements for a day in the first weekend of the election campaign and will instead spend it discussing election strategy with his close advisers.
While one source was quoted as saying that the idea that Sunak was hoping to reset his campaign was "ridiculous", another campaign operative claimed that "the Prime Minister usually spends the first weekend of the campaign in his Don't spend time talking to advisors".
The reports prompted opposition Labor MP Stella Creasy to post on social media, "Sunak needs a duvet day already. Britain needs a different government already."
However, the claims were soon dismissed, saying he was spending the day campaigning in his constituency of Yorkshire in northern England.Conservative minister Bim Afolami intervened to paralyze the opposition's criticism of the campaign.
"I think a lot of those things are false...I think the important thing is that we get this election right," he said.
It came as Sunak visited the Titanic Quarter in Belfast on Friday, where the world's largest attraction based around the ship is located, leading a reporter to ask if he was "captaining a sinking ship in this election".
Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer is also in full campaign mode and plans to use the day for public events designed to focus on his argument that the Conservatives have damaged the economy and the cost of living. Has increased.
It came as Labour's lead fell by three points in the first YouGov opinion poll after Rishi Sunak announced a snap general election on Wednesday.The poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday, shows the Conservatives are up 22 per cent, while Labor is down two to 44 per cent.