Rishi Sunak raises eyebrows as he says Lionesses ‘left nothing out there’

He couldn’t make the trip to Australia to cheer on England’s Lionesses in person for their World Cup final, and now prime minister Rishi Sunak’s message offering his commiserations to Sarina Wiegman's team on their defeat to Spain hasn’t gone down too well online.

In a post to Twitter/X after the whistle was blown, the Conservative Party leader wrote: “You left absolutely nothing out there, Lionesses.

“It wasn’t to be, but you’ve already secured your legacy as game changers. We are all incredibly proud of you.”

Except numerous online dictionaries will tell you that the sporting phrase – meaning to give it your all – is actually to ‘leave it all out there’.

The PM’s blunder was quickly branded “embarrassing” by other social media users:

It wasn’t the only tweet the Richmond (Yorkshire) MP put out on Sunday, as he also shared a picture of him in a pub with football fans complete with the caption, “we still believe” when England remained 1-0 down in the second half:

When asked why Mr Sunak didn’t attend the final, Downing Street pointed out that Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer went along instead – a move which wasn’t without ridicule, either.

Then Claire Coutinho MP, the minister for children, families and wellbeing, went on LBC to further explain the PM’s absence, saying he has “a huge amount of work to do” and that the travel time to get to Australia is “probably difficult”.

She continued: “I’m sure he would have loved to have been there. He’s a huge football fan.

“And he’s got two daughters - and he’s been so excited about the Lionesses.”

She also revealed which football team her boss supports, adding: “The Southampton team. Is that the Saints? Yeah, he is a big Saints fan.”

Awkward.

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