Sideways tool use earns Rishi Sunak hammering on social media

Prime minister mocked for unusual technique at craft session, but video shows he was following teacher’s instructions

It may not be the most complicated of tools to master, but Rishi Sunak was mocked on social media for ostensibly having difficulty handling a hammer, after being told to use it sideways as part of a craft session.

Sunak was taking a lesson in hammering jewellery in Farsley in West Yorkshire during a visit.

A clip of his technique went viral on Friday as it showed him using the side of the tool and struggling to hit the metal hard enough to drive it downwards.

Labour tweeted: “Man who hammers working people can’t use a hammer,” and “Rishi Sunak: not the son of a toolmaker,” a reference to Keir Starmer’s background.

But in a fuller version of the clip, the jewellery crafter sitting alongside Sunak instructs him to use the side of the instrument. He replies: “Sideways?” and she says: “Yes.”

She subsequently can be seen saying, “Come on!” as he struggles to drive the metal downwards.

Sunak has previously been mocked for trying to pay for a can of soft drink by scanning his bank card on a barcode reader and borrowing a Kia Rio from a supermarket worker for a photo opportunity rather than using his government Jaguar.

Richard Holden, the new chair of the Conservative party, hit back at Labour saying: “He’s the son of a pharmacist and a GP. And if Labour listened to working people, rather than assuming they knew what was best from their inner-London ivory towers, then they wouldn’t keep making stupid mistakes like this tweet.”

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