Sir Keir Starmer has dropped the gloves in his latest remarks about the new Prime Minister, after previously congratulating Rishi Sunak.
Mr Sunak has only ever fought one leadership election battle, which he was “thrashed” by Liz Truss, the Labour leader told his shadow cabinet.
“Rishi Sunak stabbed Boris Johnson in the back when he thought he could get his job. And in the same way, he will now try and disown the Tory record of recent years and recent months and pretend that he is a new broom,” Sir Keir said, according to a readout of the meeting.
“But he was also the chancellor who left Britain facing the lowest growth of any developed country, the highest inflation, and millions of people worried about their bills. And now he plans to make working people pay the price for the Tories crashing the economy.”
He said Mr Sunak is a “weak prime minister who will have to put his party first and the country second”.
Acknowledging the Tories could expect a “bounce” in the opinion polls, he said he knew Labour’s huge lead in recent surveys was no more than an “enjoyable story”