Liberal Democrats sprung another “small boat crisis” on Rishi Sunak as he was speaking to a local rowing club near London.
The Prime Minister was on a visit to Henley and was chatting away when suddenly the Lib-Dem vessel came motoring past on the Thames.
Mr Sunak appeared to have been alerted by an aide and says: “Oh gosh, we’re keep going,” though it was not entirely clear what he was responding too.
As he addressed a group at the rowing club, Lib Dems could be seen waving their placards and hands from the boat.
On board were Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper, as well as their parliamentary candidates for Wokingham, Clive Jones and Henley & Thame, Freddie Van Mierlo.
They were out on the Thames to highlight pollution in Britain’s rivers.
Ms Cooper said: “We are hearing from lifelong former Conservative voters who are appalled by seeing their local rivers polluted by filthy sewage.”
A Lib Dem source added: “This is just another small boat Rishi Sunak can’t deal with. There’s no rowing back from his record on soaring NHS waiting lists and rivers ruined by sewage.”
The Lib Dems, as the third party in England, often struggle to get media time.
So far on the general election campaign, Sir Ed Davey has succeeding in creating waves, and gaining publicity for his party, with a series of stunts including falling off a paddleboard on Lake Windermere, to highlight the level of pollution in waterways.
The Conservatives are locked in fierce political battles in seats across the so-called Blue Wall in southern England.
The Lib Dems are seeking to oust Jeremy Hunt in the new constituency of Godalming and Ash in what they say would be a “Portillo moment”.
Defence Secretary Mr Portillo was famously ousted in Enfield Southgate during the Tony Blair landslide victory in 1997.
He admitted that his seat is on a “knife edge”, with one internal poll showing he will just win, another that he will lose.
But he told Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and his party seeking their “Portillo moment” not to “bet the farm on it”.
He added: “Jeremy Hunt is no Michael Portillo, for better or worse.”
The Lib Dems are also targeting a number of Tory seats in London including Wimbledon, Carshalton and Wallington, and Sutton and Cheam, as well a string of constituencies in the capital’s commuter belt.
At the local elections last year, the Lib Dems made gains from the Tories including taking control of South Oxfordshire council.
Mr Sunak has got his flagship Rwanda Bill through Parliament in his bid to tackle the “small boats” crisis in the Channel.
But the Prime Minister has admitted that no deportation flights will take off for Rwanda before the July 4 election with asylum seekers and economic migrants who have come across the Channel, risking their lives in flimsy and unseaworthy inflatable boats.
