Rishi Sunak believes Government doing 'outstanding' job even if no one else does
Rishi Sunak believes the Government is doing an "outstanding" job, Downing Street has said.
The inflated rating comes a day after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she'd only rate its performance as "good". No10 said he'd give his team top marks - although though voters, and even factions within his own party, disagree.
The PM was yesterday forced to admit he's not delivered on his NHS waiting list pledge. And he's facing criticism on a swathe of other issues, from housing, the cost of living crisis and small boats. Latest polling from Savanta shows his public popularity rating is a massive -27.
A Number 10 spokeswoman, quizzed on Ms Keegan's rating, said: "I think the point that was being made, and the Prime Minister would agree with, is that the Government is always looking to improve and build on successes."
Pressed on whether the Prime Minister thinks the Government has done an "outstanding job", she said: "He does, yes. But, as I say, there is always more work to be done and he is committed to continuing to deliver and to continue to improve services." She said these included education, stopping the boats and delivering on his five key pledges.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
She added: "He and his ministers are working across Government and in all departments to improve people's lives." Yesterday Ms Keegan said she would rate the Government as "Good" using Ofsted's four-point grading scale, which ranks schools from Outstanding to Inadequate. Asked how she would grade the Government's performance during an LBC phone-in, she said: "I would say 'Good'. Often a lot of the things that we've delivered nobody ever talks about."
Asked to sum up the Government in one word, Ms Keegan said: "Delivering." It comes as Rishi Sunak admitted he was failing to deliver on cutting NHS waiting lists - one of his key pledges. The Prime Minister promised to slash the massive backlog for care in January 2023 but waiting lists are actually higher than when he made the pledge.
In an interview with Piers Morgan's Uncensored programme on TalkTV, Mr Sunak said: "We have not made enough progress." Pressed again on whether he had failed on the pledge, he admitted: "Yes, we have."
Mr Sunak sought to blame ongoing NHS strikes and the pandemic for the backlog. But in November - when there was no industrial action - there were 7.61 million outstanding treatments, compared to 7.21 million last January.
In another headache for the PM, a new right-wing Tory faction, the National Conservatism group, was launched today, with Liz Truss lashing out at Tory colleagues. She said: "Too many of our colleagues are looking at what jobs they get when they leave Parliament, they want to be popular at London dinner parties."
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