Rishi Sunak went without Sky TV so his parents could send him to private school

[number10bus]

Honestly this has really annoyed me, apart from the fact it's such crap - he came from a family where his parents were a GP and a pharmacist, it's like he's literally thought of the most working class stereotype and applied that. He's so out of touch and I don't know why this one has annoyed me so much but it really has.

I'm not much older than our prime minister and we didn't have one either, or holidays and not much in the way of any luxury items and guess what my parents couldn't afford to send me to private school despite them working very hard too.

Agreed. It still doesn't make sense though. Why deliberately subject yourself to weeks of humiliation before you want to start a new life elsewhere? He's making himself a laughing stock!

But he's not 9 now. He should have the relevant context and understanding. I would never say I "went without" sky as a child.

And he was only pressed because he was asked "have you ever gone without anything" when talking about understanding people struggling financially. He could have said that he was fortunate to not have had a childhood where his parents struggled financially. And then he could have talked about how he wants that for every child, how furlough showed that he cared about ensuring working people still have income etc etc. Why not just say that? There's nothing wrong with not struggling financially but he seems weirdly against saying it.

Going without holidays, a crap car and no money for DIY (which sounds fairly normal for the time) to send one kid to a local private school isn't the same story as sending two kids to one of the fanciest private schools and the only sacrifice Rishi could come up with for that to happen was Sky.

Did they really send Rishi and his brother to Winchester, and their daughter to state school?

They're all out of touch. This is reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher claiming to polish her own kitchen sink, Gordon Brown claiming to love Arctic Monkeys when asked what was on his iPod, in a bid to look a bit Yoof...he'll even Theresa May 'fessed up to running through fields of wheat.
I'd prefer it if they stopped all this bollocks and just concentrated on doing their jobs properly.

I think Richard Osman was right. He is doing everything in his power to ensure he doesn't get re-elected and have to sort out the increasing shitstorm of Tory misgovernment. He's having fun playing crash and burn bingo with the press stories.

Growing up a knew a family where the two daughters (one in my class) went to the local comp, and the son went to a private boarding school.

Nothing do do with academia - he really was thick as pigshit. It was some weird religious thing, as he was bought up Catholic and they girls C of E.

Oh, dear, he’s given the haters (and I dare say closet racists) another excuse to spit bile and venom. And I’m not a Tory voter.

Aside from the Sky business, if he was a boarder at Winchester that would have been ££££, and a GP and a pharmacist don’t exactly rank among the U.K. rich. So I dare say there were sacrifices.

Unlike some MPs, he’s not actually claiming to have come from a working class family when he didn’t.

The Sunaks 100% came from money. There's absolutely nothing in the media about their backgrounds, why would that be if not to hide it? There's an awful lot of money in the East African Indian community, I certainly do not buy his rags to riches tale. I wish he'd just own his privilege, it needn't negate his or his parents hard work.

David Cameron claiming to support whichever football team it was he then promptly forgot and accidentally said a different one.

The only reason he is there is to prevent someone worse getting in. It's the only logical conclusion. Maybe we'll thank him in years gone by. A bit like the Libdems who were burned alive in 2015, and yet it emerged how much they had restrained the horror show that Cameron and Osborne would have inflicted on is with a real majority.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnj7lkAJ_Vw

@CarolineFields Div and a Coke addict.

No, the real answer is that he is shit at this. He cannot campaign, he cannot connect to ordinary voters, he cannot be challenged in an interview without coming across like a tetchy arse. He cannot do politics.

But he cannot believe that he is bad at this because he has been handed everything on a plate his whole life and thought it was due to some special quality he has, rather than immense wealth and privilege. So he keeps trying.

He LOST to Liz Truss in the leadership campaign. Liz Truss. That's how bad a campaigner he is. And he only became PM after that because he was last man standing.

PP said he would still win his seat because his constituency vote Tory above all else, which means he didn't even bother having to win a campaign there.

@MuseKira "My mother was a part time secretary and my father was a grocery shop manager, but they managed to finance my brother going to a local private school."

A LITTLE different to three children to Winchester or Winchester equivalent.

Winchester has always been megabucks, even in the dim distant days beyond recall......

He was a day student.

He gave the sky example when asked about being in touch with the "day to day struggles ordinary people face", and what he'd gone without in that context.

If his parents were scrimping to send him to school he could have surely come up with other examples. "Like many people in this country, my parents made financial decisions to provide my brother and me with the best education. We were fortunate that our financial situation was such that with some sacrifices, like not going on holiday (insert other relevant sacrifice here), they were able to afford a very good school. I'm aware of course that many other people make the same sacrifices and are still not able to afford the things that would give their children such advantages, and that for some people, the things I saw as a sacrifice are not even an option".

Marcus Brigstock says that one of the things public school gives you is an unshakeable conviction that you can do absolutely anything....

£12k a year in 1990s. Megabucks but not for well earning health professionals (likely at least £120k household income for the Sunaks at that time). Healthcare pay has decreased in real terms and private fees increased exponentially hence why it all seems so incredulous to so many

He grew up in a 6 bedroom house

And the worst bit is everyone else falls for that confidence too. A non-regional accent and public school confidence and we're putty in their hands.

It shows how little he understands about the real world. He's so ludicrously rich now that he thinks his incredibly comfortable childhood was a hardship.

The correct answer to that question was "No, I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that didn't have to worry about where our next meal was coming from, etc, here's the policies in our manifesto that will help families in that situation (insert some lies here because they don't actually have anything that will help the poorest in society)"

But no, he so badly understands his privilege that he believes that not having Sky as a kid when all his private school mates did was a sacrifice.

I don't really care that he's rich, I do care that he hasn't taken the time to understand what being poor really means, and I really care that he's such a shit politician and he's so fucking thick that he can't even hide it properly.

Absolute derail but I am pretty much the same age as Sunak and I remember when Sky TV was launched a new ice cream bar called Sky was also launched which then sold out everywhere cos it was a) delicious and b) the summers of 89 and 90 were heatwaves.

I don't think I ever got it quite clear in my head that Sky TV isn't an ice cream.

Gosh I've not been able to reply to this for hours because I just felt so bad for him. The poor lamb! His parents forwent something that didn't exist so he could have opportunities.

It's so humbling.

But, rishi, don't mean to one up you but my parents went without a television entirely to pay for my schooling. So there.

I don't know who is worse today, him with his my childhood was so deprived nonsense or the Green Party thinking £50k is an excessive salary that needs more taxing. I know it's more than average but it's not THAT much once you factor in high houses prices in some parts of the country, childcare costs etc etc.

Dammit, I've never had Sky TV but I've also not been to private school or sent any of my kids to one. What am I doing wrong?

What do you do with all your extra money then? I bet you spend it on avocados.

FFS he is SUCH a twat!

Many families go without to send kids to private school but it's a choice that's not available to everyone. For most, private school fees would mean not being able to pay mortgage/rent and bills. By saying things like this he's proving he has no idea how the majority of people in this country live.