THE PM has told how the late Queen gave him “confidence” to do his job – as he opened up about their first meeting.

In his most candid words ever about the Royal Family, Rishi Sunak said it was deeply moving to stay with King Charles in Balmoral last weekend.

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And he backed calls for a permanent statue to Queen Elizabeth II.

Speaking a day after the first anniversary of her death, Mr Sunak said: “I have had the time to reflect even more about the just unbelievable contribution that she made to our country over such a prolonged period of time.

“I had my first trip to Balmoral just last weekend. Balmoral is a family home.

“It was quite moving for me to be there at that time and being in a family home with all those memories of what she did.”

Recalling his first private meeting with the Queen, he said he showed up to brief her on his first Budget just three weeks after he was made Chancellor.

He said: “I showed up thinking, this is just a general chat I assume.

“Then one of the people at the palace said to me, ‘You are the first Chancellor that’s come here without your big red folder’. He said this literally before I walked into the room.

“I thought, ‘Yikes, is she going to ask me about the borrowing number in 2027/28?’ Thankfully, without betraying too many confidences, that was not the primary focus.. I will never forget that moment.”

He added: “One of the highlights of my time in Government was that time I spent with her and just talking about the economy and the country, because she had obviously just the most amazing historical perspective having seen I don’t know how many dozens of Chancellors over the years and all the ups and downs of the British economy.

“She had a great perspective on that, which actually gave me confidence.

She was also very funny about things. I was thinking about that while we were in Balmoral.”

Backing a statue, he added: “We should obviously think about more permanently the right way to recognise and celebrate everything that she did for our country.”