RISHI Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer clashed on immigration, taxes and the NHS as they faced off in their first election TV debate last night.
The race for No10 ramped up as both Tory and Labour leaders made their opening pitch to voters in the high-stakes showdown.
And the gloves came off in the spin room backstage as Michael Gove said Sir Keir had been left “flat on the canvas”.
Senior aides and ministers tore chunks off each other minutes after the ITV debate ended in a room at the Coronation Street experience in Manchester.
Tory grandee Mr Gove said: “Keir Starmer was flat on the canvas at the end of that.
“Can you tell me a single thing that Keir Starmer said that allows you to be better informed as to what he would do as prime minister? No.”
Shadow cabinet bigwigs Jonathan Ashworth, Wes Streeting and Liz Kendall worked the room for the Labour Party.
Mr Ashworth berated Mr Sunak, telling The Sun: “He’s so weak he couldn’t knock the skin of a rice pudding.”
And Shadow Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood defended Sir Keir over accusations he was “getting tetchy” and kept “rolling his eyes at Sunak”.
Ms Mahmood was grilled on whether audiences across Britain were getting a glimpse into the “real Keir” as an irritable character.
She hit back: “He’s a respectful human being, whereas clearly the Prime Minister was phased because he had a garbage claim he wanted to make and he wanted to make it as loudly as he could.”
Rwanda emerged as a central dividing line between the pair – with Mr Sunak blasting: “Stick to our plan and illegal migrants will be on those planes. With Labour, they will be out on our streets.”
The skirmishes also saw the bitter rivals do battle on tax – with a fired-up Mr Sunak accusing his rival of plotting steep hikes.
Sir Keir hit back that the Tory chief was “Britain’s expert on raising taxes” – pointing out how the burden is the highest in peacetime.
A snap YouGov poll following the showdown found 51 per cent say Mr Sunak won, while 49 per cent say Starmer won.
Mr Sunak is desperate to claw back ground in the polls which currently have Sir Keir on course to storm into Downing Street on July 5.
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