Rishi Sunak 'intimidated' by Loose Women as viewers ask why he's there

Watch Rishi Sunak say he feels 'intimidated' on Loose Women

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Rishi Sunak admitted that appearing on Loose Women was one of the most intimidating things he has had to do as Prime Minister.

Sunak was a guest on Thursday's episode of the ITV chat show, where he was grilled about how he planned to help people living in poverty and accused of "hating pensioners".

But viewers were left wondering why he had agreed to do the daytime show - with some speculating that it was because a general election was imminent.

What, how, and why?

Prime minister Rishi Sunak appeared a little nervous as he was introduced on Thursday's Loose Women, babbling to the panel about the personalised coffee mug bearing his name that he had been given by the ITV chat show.

He began: "I'm very excited about this mug. My office were asking about the mug before I came so they're going to be particularly happy."

Host Kaye Adams asked him: "Are you a fan of Loose Women?" prompting him to admit how intimidated he felt.

Sunak replied: "Well, I'll be totally honest. It's on on occasion in the back of the office which is my main familiarity with it. I've got to say, I've done a lot of things in this job, but being here is probably on the more intimidating end of things I've had to do, so let's see how it goes."

Janet Street-Porter asked him: "You were smiley earlier, will you be smiley in five minutes?" and Sunak laughed nervously: "It depends what you've got for me!"

He added: "You'd think I'd be used to it because I have a family of girls, I have two young girls, even our dog is a girl. So in one sense, I ought to be ok with it, but this definitely feels a bit intimidating."

But viewers were left wondering why he had agreed to the booking as one person commented on X: "What on earth was Sunak doing appearing on Loose Women today?"

Someone else added: "What the devil is Rishi Sunak doing on Loose Women today."

Others speculated about the real reason for the appearance as one person predicted: "The only reason a Prime Minister would appear on Loose Women is that there's an election coming."

The panel tried to get Sunak to reveal when the next general election would be a number of times as they mentioned it happening in November but he did not confirm or deny the date.

What else happened on Loose Women?

It seemed Sunak was right to feel nervous as Judi Love and Janet Street-Porter both took the chance to grill him about issues close to their hearts.

Love asked him about the rise in knife crime and issues concerning poverty including food banks and housing problems, as she told how she had previously lived in damp social housing.

She said: "The question should be not what are you going to do but when are you going to do something to make a change? People are suffering right now. What is happening right now? We are losing children to poverty in the UK."

Meanwhile, Street-Porter told him: "I think you do work really hard, hats off to you for that, I think your heart's in the right place - but why do you hate pensioners? That's the only conclusion I can come to from the Spring Budget."

Viewers cheered them on as one person wrote: "OMG The Loose Women are shredding Rishi Sunak. Well done, ladies."

Loose Women airs on ITV1 at 12.30pm on weekdays.

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