Rishi Sunak awkwardly asked a homeless man if he worked in business as he served him a full English breakfast during a visit to a shelter.
The Prime Minister visited the shelter in London, which is run by The Passage charity, on Friday and helped to serve hot meals.
His interaction with a man called Dean was filmed by broadcasters and Mr Sunak appeared to make a misstep towards the end of their conversation.
Mr Sunak asked: “You’ve been here before, have you?”
After the man replied that he had, Mr Sunak continued: “It is a great place, isn’t it. Superb job.”
The man then asked the Prime Minister if he intended to “sort the economy out” and Mr Sunak replied: “Well, that is exactly what I am trying to do.”
The man then made a comment about “business”, prompting the Prime Minister to ask him: “Do you work in a business?”
The man replied: “No, I am homeless. I am actually a homeless person at the minute but I am interested in business.”
The clip of the encounter, posted on Twitter by ITV News, has gone viral, with more than one million views.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, labelled the exchange “excruciating”.
Mr Sunak had praised the “fantastic work” being done to support people at Christmas during his visit.
He told Sky News: “Most of us this weekend, this Christmas, will be inside, will be warm, will be safe, will be with our families. But sadly that’s not true for everybody.
“And that’s why the Government’s investing a significant amount to reduce the number of people who are sleeping rough or are homeless.”
A Government source said the shelter provides help for all vulnerable members of the community and not just homeless people and that the Prime Minister had spoken to a variety of people, some in employment and some out of employment.
