Rishi Sunak reveals he spoke to Johnson ‘late last year’
Rishi Sunak reveals he spoke to Boris Johnson ‘late last year’ and doesn't rule out the former PM returning to the Cabinet in a new ITV1 documentary airing on Thursday tonight. The prime minister speaks to ITV News Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana for Rishi Sunak: Up Close - Tonight which airs on ITV1 & ITVX at 8.30pm. In it, he is asked if he misses the former PM and whether he would have him back in his cabinet, to which he says: "I’m proud of the work that we did together. And we worked well together for a long time. In the end there are, you know, well-documented differences…" Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 Obviously, your party felt Boris Johnson had to go,
00:03 but he was a huge proven election winner.
00:05 I mean, do you miss him sometimes?
00:07 Would you have him back in your Cabinet?
00:09 Yeah, I mean, I'm proud of the work that we did together.
00:11 I mean, we worked well together for a long time.
00:13 And obviously, look, in the end,
00:14 there are well-documented differences that we had.
00:17 I noticed you didn't answer whether you'd have him back.
00:19 Well, I never talk about these personnel things,
00:21 but, you know, I speak to him on an occasion.
00:23 When was your last speech with him?
00:25 I mean, I spoke, I can't remember, right,
00:26 probably late last year.
00:27 But, you know, but again, this is not about individuals.
00:31 People see you as out of touch.
00:33 Do you think your wealth is an issue for voters?
00:37 No, for the simple reason that when I was Chancellor
00:40 and introduced things like the furlough scheme,
00:43 which protected around 10 million jobs,
00:45 nobody said that, right?
00:47 I'm the same person.
00:49 And I think most people in our country are fair-minded.
00:52 But people are bringing those up.
00:54 Do you have a thick skin?
00:55 You know, yes.
00:56 And it doesn't hurt in that way.
00:58 I've, of course, been fortunate,
01:00 and I've also worked for the things that I have.
01:03 And you know what?
01:04 If someone wants to attack that or make it a political smear,
01:08 I actually think it says more about them
01:10 and their ambition for our country, or lack of it,
01:13 than it does about me and where I come from.
01:16 I mean, I feel that when you were Chancellor,
01:17 you were pretty frank about this.
01:19 You said at one point, "The NHS needs more money,
01:22 so we need to raise taxes."
01:25 Now you want to cut taxes.
01:26 So isn't the truth of the choice now
01:29 that you're looking to cut public services?
01:31 - When I said that was about a social care plan,
01:33 which you're right,
01:34 if you're going to introduce something new like that,
01:36 then you have to answer where it's going to be funded from.
01:40 We are increasing the amount of money that we spend,
01:42 but we've got to focus also
01:44 on what we're getting out of public services.
01:46 - I think it is right to figure out,
01:48 well, how can we get people
01:49 to be able to keep more of their own money?