RISHI Sunak has been accused of showing voters “complete and utter contempt” after he turned and walked away from a woman telling him about her daughter’s experience in hospital.

The Tory prime minister was on a visit to Winchester – a constituency which has been held by the Conservatives since 2010 – when the incident happened on Friday morning.

Sky News cameras captured Sunak talking to a member of the public in a rare moment of engagement allowed by the No10 press team.

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Sunak told her: “Last year, towards the end of the year, we had two months with virtually no strikes in October and November, and do you know what happened? The waiting lists fell by 150,000 over those two months.

“It just shows, when there aren’t strikes, we really can make progress. We didn’t last year, because of all the strikes.”

The member of the public then manages to speak, saying: “Yeah, but you could stop it all. You could make it all go back to how it used to be. Where we had…”

At this point Sunak laughs in the woman’s face.

She went on: “Where we had, if you had a problem you could go to the hospital. My daughter spent seven hours waiting …”

As the woman was talking, Sunak said “yep” and turned and walked away. She catches up, but Sunak talks over her saying: "I'm sorry to hear that but the key thing is we have resolved all the industrial action, apart from the junior doctors who are still not saying yes."

The incident has been compared to Gordon Brown’s infamous “bigoted woman” comment, which was caught on a live mic during the 2010 General Election campaign.

Journalist Sam Bright shared the Sky News footage on social media, writing: “Prickly Sunak meets member of public.

“Patronises them, laughs at them, and then walks away halfway through encounter.

“A genuine sign of contempt from PM towards ordinary voters.”

Another user said the clip showed Sunak’s “complete and utter contempt”, while a third added: “Not interested in what the public have to say as he is too busy implementing the will of the people.”

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Others branded the clip “appalling”, while Scots comic Frankie Boyle wrote: “The walk off is genuinely amazing. It’s going to be a hell of an election.”

NHS doctor Henry Jefferson wrote: “Still pushing the line that strikes are responsible for the waiting lists I see.

“The data he is referring to is in fact from a period where the strikes did take place.”

Jefferson also shared a graphic from the FT showing waiting lists were well above seven million when the first doctor strike took place in March 2023, up from closer to 2.5 million in 2010.

Wes Streeting, Labour's shadow health secretary, said: "Rishi Sunak has no idea of the misery NHS patients are going through.

"When patients try to tell him, he laughs in their faces and walks away. When Sunak asks for their vote later this year, he will get a taste of his own medicine."