‘Stop the boats’ slogan was too stark, says Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak said he probably should have put his priorities in office ‘in a better context for exactly how challenging it was’. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The “stop the boats” slogan was “too stark”, Rishi Sunak has said, reflecting on his time in office, adding that he even regrets ever using the phrase because it was “too binary”.

The former prime minister, who led the Conservative party to one of its worst election defeats in history, described it as one of the main lessons he had learned from his time in Downing Street.