Why is Sunak entering no 10 without his family supporting him?

[Dinaprettyballerina]

Genuine question or maybe they want to stay completely out of the limelight? Feel a tad sorry for him, he looks so excited:(

It’s changed a bit since we have SM and the level of abuse is far higher. Keeping your dc and partner out of that spotlight not a bad idea.

The US is neither here nor there really @WahineToa , we're talking about the UK and also the specific problems we are facing. And I think your view that it won't be a problem and that we're seeing a cultural shift at the same time as we also see a cost of living crisis and younger generations completely shafted is, well, naive to say the least. Sunak and co would seem on the basis of what they've done so far to lean more towards my way of thinking, though I will of course take it back if she ends up being given a more prominent role and is portrayed as a gorgeous glamorous girlboss type. I'm from a very working class background too, fwiw.

@PerfectlyPreservedQuagaarWarrior well, I didn’t say ‘it won’t be a problem’, I said it will be less of one. I’m basing this on changes in attitudes of those around me too. I don’t think I’m naive at all, I just hold a different view to you.

If he wasn't wealthy enough to buy Downing Street or buy a palace or a castle then the grassroots would be complaining about the fact that yet another immigrant was scrounging at their expense and got the top job to live on easy street. He is too wealthy for them to ever be able to levy the criticism and I am sure that they find it frustrating.

Nobody thinks this is going to be a concern for the whole of the electorate @WahineToa , so that's moot. It doesn't have to be. Even if we knew for certain that a billionaire during a cost of living crisis is less of a problem now than it would have been in the past (when?) as you believe, that's not actually the relevant point. Something can be less of a negative than it might have been previously and still a negative. You even acknowledge yourself that it's going to be an issue for some people.

I think it's a bit archaic and weird to have your family paraded in front of the cameras on ocassions like this. Being PM is a paid job like any other and I don't think the families should come as part of a package.

@PerfectlyPreservedQuagaarWarrior well it may not be relevant to you, but it is to me and the point I am making. You’re very bossy. You don’t decide what points are valid or not. I made the point based on my observations of society and how working class and so-called left wing attitudes have shifted, along with what our major concerns are. Labour clearly lost their traditional voters last election, because they were out of touch with their concerns and needs. IMO if they go too hard on the ‘Rishi is too rich’ thing, it won’t be met with the same enthusiasm it used to. Look at the response to Nadia Whittomes vulgar and racist post.

Here’s a thought. He and his wife are wealthy enough to never work again. He could have stayed as a hedge fund manager and earned a lot more than he is as PM. Instead he became a politician. Presumably he has a work ethic and cares about what he does. That counts for something, surely?

If he had his family there people would of complained , just can't win
Why not wait and judge him on the job he does over the next few months
He isn't going to fix it all though , even a magic wand can't do that

No one is complaining. But it is unusual. He has had his family there for photo ops so the privacy argument does not wash. It is usual for the whole family to be there when a new PM moves into Downing Street. So people will ask why?

He was solidly middle class, his parents had two good incomes. He obviously had the advantage of having two highly educated parents which is worth an awful lot & really gives children a huge advantage from birth.

If you are aristocratic, Sunak's family were plebs. In reality, they were solidly middle class on a decent wage.

It’s not about how much money they have. It’s about how they make it. That should matter to everyone.

I agree with this. It was much harder to achieve in the 80s & 90s in certain fields such as the media, finance & law. You literally couldn't get in the door without having been to a top public school or having a contact in high places. This has changed now to a certain degree especially in law.. Sunak is a very clever man who prioritised his education & he's doing the same for his girls. However he & his wife have chosen the top institutions for them in Glendower & Wycombe Abbey so he obviously knows about the social & unspoken advantages those schools will give his girls.

Do we know how much money Keir Starmer has?
Where his kids go to school? Where was he educated?

Just checked. He went to a selective Grammar school and then Oxford. So not a Comp. I suppose the fact he went to Oxford rules him out as an acceptable leader too?

In the eighties, Cambridge still had an application process that started before the date UCAS forms had to be submitted. Many state pupils only learned this when they got their UCAS forms and discovered they were too late to apply to Cambridge. Remember the internet was still very hard to access until the late eighties. In the early eighties you still accessed the internet using a tape in a tape recorder that played beeping sounds and took forever to load. Hardly anyone did access it.

I think Sunak is intellectually impressive. But the idea he achieved what he did in a way that is comparable to anybody who didn't have his schooling background is absolutely disingenuous.

It's not about being comparable. It's about making the most of your opportunities. His parents sent him to Winchester but it was his own achievement to get elected as Head Boy. Maybe it was easier to get into Oxford, but it was his own hard work that got him a first. And his own drive to get on the Fulbright program and go to Stanford.

If he hadn't gone to Winchester, he'd have gone to grammar school and that would have increased his chances of going to Oxford too. I don't understand why people are so negative about an individual achieving through working hard.

We do!

Google is a very useful tool.
He’s the leader of the opposition, not the new PM but since you ask… he’s not a billionaire - nor is he married to one.

Before anyone brings it up, we also know how much Jeremy Corbyn is worth, where he lives and where he went to school.
🤗

@PerfectlyPreservedQuagaarWarrior well it may not be relevant to you, but it is to me and the point I am making. You’re very bossy. You don’t decide what points are valid or not. I made the point based on my observations of society and how working class and so-called left wing attitudes have shifted, along with what our major concerns are. Labour clearly lost their traditional voters last election, because they were out of touch with their concerns and needs. IMO if they go too hard on the ‘Rishi is too rich’ thing, it won’t be met with the same enthusiasm it used to. Look at the response to Nadia Whittomes vulgar and racist post.

You responded to me talking about why the billionaire thing presents a problem. That's what we're talking about, and you have admitted yourself that it will be for some people and that it's an issue Sunak and his team will obviously be aware of.

If you want to start a subdiscussion or even a thread about whether it's less of a problem than it previously would have been and see if anyone else wants to discuss it with you, by all means do so. But that's not what this is.

And for that reason, even if your view that it's less of a problem now than it might have been in the past (when?) is correct, that doesn't actually have any bearing on the issue of whether it's a problem per se. You can make that argument, but you can't make it a counter to mine.

Rishi being incredibly rich will be an issue as high energy bills begin to really bite and people are sitting in freezing homes over the winter. It does not matter if you think it is unimportant, it is going to present a pr problem.

Exactly.

Whatever the reasons, I applaud Rishi Sunak for keeping his family out of the limelight.

Do you think Kier Starmer is not going to be able to heat his home? Are you saying the PM must be in a position where he can’t pay his bills in order to qualify?

Sunak has a problem with his wife being a non dom resident. For me, it’s a massive problem and it is far too late to fix it.

She is living in the UK with clearly no intent to return to reside in India so should pay UK taxes on her worldwide income. When your husband is going into politics you get things like this taken care of. She had the brass balls to continue with this arrangement while he was chancellor. They were also holding US Green cards while he was an MP and he was chancellor. Its pure arrogance.