Rishi Sunak suggested he had inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from Liz Truss.
But Mr Sunak said he was “entirely confident that there are better times ahead”.
He made the comments in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former Tory Cabinet minister, who said Mr Sunak had become premier at a “very hard time” to be leader of the Conservative Party.
Mr Sunak replied: “I think someone described it as the worst hospital pass for any incoming prime minister in however many decades. There’s lots of frustrations, we’ve been through a lot as a country over the past few years, which people are understandably frustrated about.
“It makes the environment trickier but I am entirely confident that there are better times ahead.
“All the things that I have been working hard on for the last year I think you can start to see are making a difference, that change is starting to become more apparent in people’s lives and that is what gives me optimism about the future.”
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