POTHOLE premier Rishi Sunak said fixing roads mattered more than upgraded rail services in interviews today.
And Mr Sunak bizarrely said he dreamed of piloting a starship in the Star Wars franchise while being unable to decide on whether to go ahead with the HS2 rail line from Birmingham to Manchester.
Mr Sunak made the comments in an interview for BBC Radio Manchester which saw him unable to answer whether the Manchester section of the high-speed line would ever be built.
He preferred instead to talk of potholes, saying “the vast majority of journeys that people make are in their cars.
“Making sure that the roads are free of potholes. That’s probably priority number one that people raise with me.”
Retreating into a fantasy world without potholes or trains, the prime minister told one interviewer that his childhood dream had been to pilot the Star Wars Millennium Falcon starship and that if he could “get to say ‘Red Seven standing by before we take down the Death Star’ that would make me a very happy man.”
Back in reality he confessed he had been unable to do anything about ex-Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who notoriously went missing from her constituency work before “standing down” as an MP in June after being denied a peerage – but then dragged out officially leaving until August 29.
Quizzed by the local radio station in her constituency, Mid-Bedfordshire, where a by-election is now pending, he claimed he lacked the power to deal with her, although Ms Dorries retained the Tory whip, which is in the premier’s gift, until the end.
“I’m focused on the future,” he said when ducking questions on Ms Dorries, but then also avoided a straight answer on HS2, claiming: “I’m not speculating on future things.”
Appearing to acknowledge that retaining the seat for the Tories after the Dorries fiasco would be difficult, Mr Sunak conceded: “Midterm by-elections are always tricky for incumbent governments.”
And he said “I get people are frustrated about what’s been happening over the past couple of years,” presumably referring to the turmoil of the Johnson and Truss premierships.
Sunak is currently gaining ground on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in polls.
Asked by pollsters who would make the best prime minister, he was up four points to 36 per cent, just 6 per cent behind Sir Keir.
