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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dave Burke

Ben Elton skewers 'narcissistic sociopath' Rishi Sunak in extraordinary TV rant

Comedian Ben Elton launched a blistering attack on "narcissistic sociopath" Rishi Sunak after the PM gave a disappointing "word salad" interview.

The Blackadder writer and stand-up comic said he was "depressed" and accused Mr Sunak of being "dripping with vanity" in a scathing verdict on his performance.

It came after the Prime Minister claimed to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that his resignation as Chancellor demonstrated his integrity in the face of Boris Johnson's lies.

Mr Elton pointed out that the PM had "served loyally" for several years before stepping down.

Asked for his verdict, he said: "I'm not so much depressed as sad, if anyone is stil watching after that extraordinary Orwellian meaningless evasive word salad.

Ben Elton launched a scathing attack on Rishi Sunak (PA)

"Everybody else wanted to believe and I sort of believed maybe he's kind of a bit more decent and it turns out he's as much as a mendacious narcissistic sociopath as his previous boss.

"I mean this man literally... he seemed to be making a principal about the fact that he resigned from a Government that he'd served loyally and tried to keep up for numerous years."

During the interview the Prime Minister told Ms Kuenssberg he was worried about inflation, but Mr Elton wasn't convinced.

"He's trying to boast about having worried about inflation while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Johnson," he said.

Mr Elton pointed out that Mr Sunak was "part of a 13 year cycle that got us to this point" and said the PM wouldn't admit other countries are doing better.

And he continued: "I genuinely wanted to believe that maybe the Tories had made a reset even though they had elected a man who had loyally served under Johnson, a man who made a mockery of a Parliamentary democracy and clearly was motivated by self interest."

The comedian accused the PM of giving a 'word salad' response to questioning (PA)

And rounding off his extraordinary attack, Mr Elton said: "He's the Prime Minister, he owes us honesty and we got nothing but mendacity and evasion and vanity, just dripping with vanity."

Mr Sunak claimed he demonstrated his integrity when he resigned from Boris Johnson's Government when asked why he did not vote to approve the Privileges Committee report.

On whether he agreed with the verdict of the Committee, he said: "Yes, I have already said in fact that I do fully support and respect not just the work of the Committee, who I think did a very thorough job, but also the decision of the House.

"It's right for people, whatever their position, face responsibility and accountability for their actions. That has happened and most importantly, Boris Johnson is no longer an MP."

The Prime Minister insisted "I was a person that as Chancellor resigned from Boris Johnson's Government" and explained he was absent from the Commons last week "because I was actually speaking and attending an event at a fantastic charity called Jewish Care, which does an extraordinary job looking after people around the country".

He went on: "Your point is, do I have to demonstrate my integrity and my leadership? I did that when I resigned. I demonstrated that I was prepared to stand up for what I believe in...

"It is not an easy or common thing for a Chancellor to resign from Government. I did because I disagreed with Boris Johnson."

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