There are few more high-profile and pressurised jobs than leading a country. So it’s perhaps not surprising that the pressure appears to be getting to British prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Lagging behind in the polls and with an election inexorably looming this calendar year, Sunak has recently garnered a reputation for being tetchy. He has appeared irritable when asked fairly basic questions during press conferences about his policies and his government’s general record in office.
In December, he became spiky with journalists asking about his Rwanda deportation plan at a press conference that he himself called on the very same subject. In November, he suddenly cancelled a meeting with Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, apparently irritated by the latter speaking publicly about the Parthenon marbles. In this case, Sunak passed up on the opportunity to discuss immigration with a key ally in what was seen as a move motivated by petulance.
