Rishi Sunak ducked awkward questions on whether he was “ashamed” of Suella Braverman’s rhetoric on immigration after she warned a “hurricane” on migrants was on the way.
The PM suggested multiculturalism was working in the UK “better than anywhere in the world” – contradicting his home secretary, who had claimed in a speech to a US think tank that it had “failed”.
Asked on ITV’s This Morning if he was “ashamed” when he heard Ms Braverman talk about a “hurricane” of mass migration, Mr Sunak said the debate “gets charged a lot”.
The PM then said: “If you just take a step back, what do I think we all agree on? We all agree that Britain is an incredibly welcoming place.”
He added: “We’re all living proof of the fact that immigrants can come here, do well – and that’s something I think we do better than any country in the world.”
Grilled on multiculturalism and whether it had failed in any way, Mr Sunak replied: “No, no, I think it’s something we should be so proud of as Brits, it’s something that we do better than anyone else.”
But he defended his desire to get those arriving on small boats out of hotels, and said: “When people do come here they should integrate, they should sign up to British values so we have that shared understanding amongst us”.
Asked if he was “mortified” by Ms Braverman’s language, Mr Sunak said: “Look, when I’m out and about there is an enormous sense of frustration that there are tens of thousands of people who have come here illegally over the past few years, and that’s not right.”
In a conference speech that sparked alarm from Tory moderates, Ms Braverman said there was a “surge” of “millions” of migrants around the world trying to come to the UK.
“The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming,” she told delegates.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak defended his decision to axe HS2’s northern leg. The PM insisted that “every penny” of the £36bn saved would be reinvested in other transport projects – arguing it would be “better use” of money.
He rejected criticism – from former PM David Cameron and others – that Britain could no longer do big infrastructure projects. He insisted that HS2 wasn’t the “right priority” and said he “100% believe it’s the right thing” to cancel its development north of Birmingham.
During a quickfire round, Mr Sunak said he preferred Oppenheimer over Barbie as a film but “loved going to Barbie because we went as a family”, chose Taylor Swift over Britney Spears and noted he once dressed as Harry Potter when attending a Halloween Party with his wife.
He also chose Big Brother over I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here before adding: “Actually the Netflix Beckham documentary right now, I’ve started watching that, I saved it for after conference, it is absolutely brilliant, reliving my childhood.”
