Rishi Sunak has been mocked after video footage showed the PM using a hammer sideways on a visit to a Yorkshire jewellery-making studio.
The opposition parties pounced on the TV clip shared on X/Twitter – claiming it showed that the Tory leader could not use a hammer properly.
Referencing Keir Starmer’s father being a toolmaker, Labour shared the viral video with the message: “Not the son of a toolmaker … Man who hammers working people can’t work a hammer.”
The Liberal Democrats shared a photo of the party’s leader holding a hammer in front of a mock “blue wall”, with the caption: “Proof that only Ed Davey can smash the blue wall.”
However, other footage from Mr Sunak’s visit showed that the craftswoman working with the PM actually told him to use the flat bit of the hammer.
She can be heard to tell the prime minister, “Use this bit”. Mr Sunak asked, “Sideways?”, before the jewellery maker said: “Yes.”
The PM was visiting the Emma White Jewellery Studio in Farsley, as he met with small business owners in the region on the day after chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a series of tax cuts.
The explanation that experts do sometimes use the side part of a hammer did not stop the merciless teasing of Mr Sunak on social media.
Nadine Dorries, the Boris Johnson ally who has shared her animosity towards Mr Sunak, was among those who ridiculed the PM.
The ex-Tory culture secretary tweeted: “Nooooo way!! What is he doing? Is this the first PM ever who has never seen a hammer, or paid for petrol, or filled up his own car?”
But Ms Dorries later deleted her post and said the video was “fake news” after the longer clip circulated.
She had been referring to previous gaffes which saw the Tory leader accused of being out of touch with ordinary people.
Mr Sunak was criticised for a photo-op in which he was seen filling up petrol in a car which turned out not to be his own as he promoted his March Budget in 2022.
He was also filmed struggling to use a contactless payment card to buy Coke inside the south London petrol station on the same trip.
Times columnist Kenny Farquharson said the widely shared hammer clip was the “bacon sandwich of the 2024 general election”.
During the 2015 general election campaign, the then Labour leader Ed Miliband was pictured apparently struggling to eat a bacon sandwich.
Becoming an instant meme, Tory rivals started eating bacon sandwiches just to show it could be done. Mr Miliband later rejected the idea the embarrassing photo lost him the election.
