Sunak surprises rowers at Leander Club

Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak surprised rowers at Leander Club in Henley today whilst out on his campaign trail

Mr Sunak toured the club alongside Henley’s conservative party candidate Caroline Newton and Lucy Demery, the party’s candidate for Wokingham and spent time chatting with its female athletes,

The Prime Minster got his hands dirty after being shown how to clean one of the club's boats and sat down for a cup of tea and a chat with its rowers on the veranda.

After asking each of the athletes how they got involved in the sport and their experiences Mr Sunak said he would encourage his daughters to give rowing a try.

The conversation was cut short however when a boat filled with Liberal Democrat campaigners including Henley candidate Freddie van Mierlo photo-bombed the meeting from the river holding luminous orange signs.

The Prime Minister who had his back to the river, seemed unaware of the stunt and was quickly ushered inside by his staff just as the boat turned around to photobomb him a second time.

When later asked if he was concerned about a challenge from the Liberal Democrat to what has traditionally been a conservative safe seat Mr Sunak said that he backed his party’s ability to deliver a “stable future” for constituents.

He said: “I'm visiting every part of our country every single day, getting to talk to as many people as I can about the choice at this election.

“At the end of the day, there's only going to be one of two people whose prime minister on July 5.

“It's either going to be Keir Starmer or me. And a vote for anyone who's not a Conservative just makes it more likely that Keir Starmer is going to end up in number ten.

“What I want to deliver is a more secure future for everyone, not just here in Henley, but across the country. And that means a future where we're cutting people's taxes.

“[...] We know more generally that working families face a £2,000 tax bill under a future Labour government and I don't want that to happen.

“[...] And a vote for anyone who's not a Conservative just makes that more likely for you and your family.”

Rower Phoebe Snowden, 22, said she was surprised to meet with Mr Sunak after only finding out about the visit a few hours before.

She said: “It's a little bit fast-paced. We were told this morning and during a weight session and here we are now, like three hours later.

“It was really nice. He seemed really interested in what we had to say about rowing and he was interested in getting his daughters into it as well.

“Young women in sport is a big thing for us. We've all been through it.

“He was intrigued about our training schedule and we've just come back from a training camp, so he was interested in that and the training involved in getting to the next level.

Miss Snowden said she was asked by the Prime Minister to propose a sales pitch he could give to his children to encourage them into the sport.

She said: “We said that rowing is a team sport and it's not necessarily about achievements it's about having the resilience and meeting the people on the way who make rowing what it is as a sport.”