Rishi Sunak in bizarre exchange as he asks homeless man at shelter if he ‘works in business’

The video clip, captured by ITV News, saw an awkward exchange with the PM

The video clip, captured by ITV news as the PM visited a shelter saw Sunak ask a homeless man what his plan was over Christmas, with man telling the Prime Minister he was hoping to get into temporary accommodation “so I’m not on the street”.

In footage from his visit to a homeless shelter in London on Friday, the Prime Minister can be heard asking a man he is serving food to: “Do you work in business?”

The man, called Dean, replies: “No, I’m homeless. I’m actually a homeless person.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted the ITV clip and wrote: “Excruciating.”

The awkward exchange began when the Prime Minister was serving breakfast to the homeless man, who asked him: “Are you sorting the economy out?”

Dean then said he was interested in business, prompting Mr Sunak to ask him what kind of business.

When Dean replied finance, the Prime Minister said: “I used to work in finance, actually before asking “Is that something you’d like to get into?”

“Yeah I wouldn’t mind. But, I don’t know, I’d like to get through Christmas first,” the homeless man said.

Mr Sunak asked: “What’s your plan, what are you doing this weekend?”

Dean replied that he was hoping the homeless charity St Mungo’s could help him get into temporary accommodation “so I’m not on the street”.

Another Labour MP, Bill Esterson, said the exchange demonstrated Mr Sunak was “out of touch”.

Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy said: “How much more out of touch could this Prime Minister be?

“After the Tories crashed the economy, sending mortgages and rents soaring, homelessness is on the rise this winter. So perhaps Rishi Sunak should focus on fixing this crisis rather than posing for excruciating photo opportunities.

“The last Labour government nearly eliminated rough sleeping, the next one will finish the job and end it for good.”