This Morning viewers said they felt 'sick' after initially being left baffled by Rishi Sunak's appearance on the ITV daytime show. The Prime Minister appeared on the programme on Thursday (May 25) where he was quizzed live in the studio by Alison Hammond and Craig Doyle.
One of the first topics up for discussion was migration numbers following the news that migration to the UK hit a new record high of 606,000 last year, driven by people from non-EU countries arriving for work, study and humanitarian reasons, new estimates show.
Appearing on the famous This Morning sofa, Mr Suank said the public should "rest assured" that the Government is working to bring down overall migration numbers. "This week we announced the new measures, and I think pretty much the biggest thing that anyone’s ever announced to bring the levels of migration down," he said.
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"And it’s a new policy which limits the amount of family members that people who are studying here can bring with them when they come and study here. And what we’ve seen over the last few years is that number of dependants has just absolutely spiralled, almost 150,000 dependants of people who are studying here coming. We’re saying from now on, that’s not going to be allowed.
"There’s a few other things we’re doing as well, but that’s going make a big difference because I want to get the numbers down. People have heard me talking a lot about illegal migration and stopping the boats. This matters as well."
The topic dominated the interview before Alison moved on to ask the PM about Suella Braverman, insisting she wasn't let "off the hook" after clearing her without an investigation of breaching the ministerial code. He refused calls to launch an official investigation into the Home Secretary for asking officials if she could have a private speed awareness course.
Opposition critics accused Mr Sunak of being "too weak" to act over Mrs Braverman, who is an influential figure on the right of the Tory party. But on This Morning, he said: "I haven’t let her off the hook."
Mr Sunak said Mrs Braverman had made a “fulsome disclosure about what’s happened". He said he had spoken with his ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who “said we can close the matter here, so that’s what we’ve done".
The interview then took a turn, with Mr Sunak being asked if he 'cries at shows like DIY SOS' and about the books he reads, telling the hosts and viewers that he's a fan of Jilly Cooper novels. He said: "You need to have escapism in your life. You need to be able to get away from the day to day, whether it is the TV you watch or the books you read."
"Fundamentally I am a dad, I play top trumps, Lego, I read Jilly Cooper with them, I am unclear how that has emerged," the Tory leader told viewers. Flustered after Alison joked that she loves a Jilly Cooper book, especially the ‘sexy bits', he insisted: "She has done a lot of different books."
But the answer had This Morning viewers flocking to social media. @Mabel_Mouse_ tweeted: "Eurgh! I feel a very sick at the thought of @RishiSunak reading Jilly Cooper, #ThisMorning." @Boppity_Boo34 posted: "He reads Jilly Cooper well that’s er well #ThisMorning." @colettecaddle commented: "#ffs. Jilly Cooper? #thismorning."
@georgeickeradio wrote: "Hearing that #RishiSunak loves Jilly Cooper books is potentially one of the most surprising things I expected to hear this morning." But @CatherineMcCat fumed: "DEAR GOD! when was the last time you cried pm? you like jilly cooper books pm. just what the public want asked of a pm on #ThisMorning in the middle of the awful problems in the UK!"
Others, however, think they spotted an unitential 'dig' from the PM due to the use of a common phrase that took viewers back to when Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby caused furore' for 'skipping the queue' during the Queen lying in state in September last year.
@SenorApple2014 said: "Our Prime Minister just gone and done mentioning about 'jumping the queue'. #ThisMorning." @S829MLY quipped: "People jumping the queue, where have I heard that before. #thismorning." @TellyVsPodcasts laughed: "Rishi said ‘jump the queue’ #ThisMorning."
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