to not agree with people criticising sunak for the fact that his wife is richer than the queen

[MrsLargeEmbodied]

he is a tory,
he is not even labour

whether he and his wife are rich should not matter

Yabu. Really yabu. This man should not be in charge of the nation's purse strings, it is a travesty.

What I care about is she was making money off continuing to invest in a company that was trading in Russia, and her husband was telling everyone else not to.

Infosys had already committed $1 million towards relief efforts for war victims despite having fewer than 100 employees in Russia. They have nearly 260,000 employees elsewhere.

Most of the governments of the UK have been Tory since forever and most of those have been public school/Oxbridge. It is nothing new or unusual. He would be more comfortable in politics than in a regular workplace, even a prestigious one.

How is Kier Starmer even relevant (here of, indeed, in general)? He is not a direct comparison (probably won't ever be now) and will not even be memorable as a Labour leader. People have (and always will) voye in the Tories again and again. If this current crisis eases by the next election, even many of those saying otherwise will determinedly choose to forget it and paint the map blue.

The Kia he pretended to fill up wasn’t even his, it belonged to a Sainsbury’s worker

@MrsLargeEmbodied

starmer went to a grammar school and oxford

He came from a working class background and went to state school which turned grammar when he was there and he got a bursary at that point I believe from things I've read.

Very different from going to Eton and onto Oxford.

He's in it for power and influence he doesn't need the salary.hes a disgrace like the rest of the cabinet

His parents weren’t rich. But he is incredibly privileged to have gone to boarding school, to have studied at Oxford and then Stanford.

He has never known poverty. Never been in the supermarket and had to put food back because he didn’t have the cash or to choose between eating and heating. Never had to wear clothes until they fell apart or shoes with holes in them. Never had to say no to anyone because he couldn’t afford it.

He is totally out of touch. He hasn’t mixed with ordinary people. And now he only knows tremendous wealth. This is why he doesn’t see to get why people are scared right now over what to him is pocket change.

A GP and a pharmacy are what I consider rich

most mps have not known poverty or worn shoes with holes in

He hasn’t mixed with ordinary people

His parents are ordinary people.

he is incredibly privileged

So too was Starmer in many ways;

^Sir Keir Starmer plays flute, recorder and piano, and was a Guildhall music scholar [up to age 18] -

www.classicfm.com/discover-music/sir-keir-starmer-flute-recorder-guildhall-scholar/

@MrsLargeEmbodied

A GP and a pharmacy are what I consider rich

They might be what you consider rich and indeed, a GP and a pharmacist may not have to worry about energy, petrol or fuel prices rises (although I imagine they will), but the Sunaks can have the heating and lights on 24/7 in any of their 5 properties and it not be an issue. His wife's fortune contributes to them never having to worry or indeed, think about money. How can we trust someone as Chancellor who can never even remotely emphasise with regular folks?

But why should his wife's riches make any difference?

I can't tell if you're being disingenuous or not. How can anyone fail to see the relevance of Sunak's vast personal fortune to his role in making policy decisions that have consistently made life harder for the poor, disabled and vulnerable?! Sunak, his children, nor his children's children will ever have to suffer the consequences of over a decade of ideological austerity. They are completely protected by their wealth. They will never have to rely on the public services that his party has deliberately and systematically starved of resources. Consequently, those services, vital to so many of us, mean nothing to them. Many, many ordinary families are suffering, and will continue to suffer as a direct result of his actions and they have to listen to him talking about how we all have to live within our means. It is sickening. But the fact that not enough people are sickened by it and will continue to vote for Sunak and his ilk despite their rank hypocrisy, their lack of compassion and their arrogant refusal to take responsibility because they have been raised to believe that they have a god given right to power and the plebs should shut up and listen to their betters sickens me even more.

What I don't get is the fact he has to pretend in the first place. Like he's somehow more relatable if he fills up a normal car. If he rolled up in a chauffeur driven Bentley he would have been torn to shreds. He lives in a 7m house & he has multiple homes for gods sake, those facts remain even if had paid for petrol properly.

A GP and a pharmacy are what I consider rich

With much of the family’s finances going on their children’s education, holidays were not extravagant, with many summers spent on the Isle of Wight.

with many summers spent on the Isle of Wight

Just like our own dear Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Or Ted Heath at Cowes Regatta week

His parents had the higher end of normal lives being both highly educated.

They are, however, not ordinary people @Clavinova. They did everything they possibly could to ensure the children associated with people from affluent backgrounds and to catapult him to wealth.

Ordinary people do not have the wherewithal to act in this manner.

So what if most MPs have never known poverty or worn shoes with holes in them. When I was a student, I did a bit of volunteer work for a labour MP. Attended his surgeries and some events, went to Parliament for a couple of days etc. He was a real grass roots guy. Knew his stuff and totally identified with the people, always a backbencher. But hugely respected. He and the Tory cabinet are like chalk and cheese.

I think we’d be better off if our MPs were people who considered a £80kish salary, free/ subsidised housing, free travel, cheap free/free meals while working and ALL the other basic benefits as a pretty great work package/deal rather than pin money…

Whether a GP and a pharmacist are consider rich or merely comfortable is beside the point.

He has been living the lifestyle of a multi millionaire for many years and is married to the daughter of a billionaire. He clearly doesn't have the financial worries that even a relatively comfortable GP/ pharmacist would have. His situation is very far removed from people working hard for higher than average salaries.
Secondly, he has demonstrated clearly his complete and utter inability to understand the challenges faced by ordinary working people, whether people on the minimum wage or those on higher than average salaries. Indeed, he has demonstrated his contempt. Even worse, he pretends that he understands and engages in PR exercises such as borrowing his staff's Kia for a photo. He showed that he doesn't even have to engage in ordinary day to day activities that a better off than average GP/ pharmacist would have to such as going to the supermarket or paying for your own petrol because he obviously has a collection of minions to do such things for him. How embarrassing.

And focused on their actual jobs rather than using them as a some kind of spring board/ opportunity to make millions with insider knowledge or networking or getting a chairmanship somewhere

He hasn’t a clue. We need to get rid of these toffs and vote for people who know what it’s like to be WC or MC.

Most politicians can't empathise with the average Joe. Do you think Boris can? Unless you say all politicians have to come from s humble background this will always happen. Plenty will be privately educated, Eton going politicians in positions of power. Don't vote for a party that doesn't represent your interests should be what people take from this. When the duchess of Cambridge attends her early tears events can she really empathise with the struggles of the average mum? Who cares if his wife is richer than the Queen? Or are asian people not allowed to be?

*early years events even

With much of the family’s finances going on their children’s education

The fees are currently £43,335 per annum (£14,445 per term). He's the eldest of 3 - don't know what schooling his siblings had - but that's a pretty significant chunk for "the family's finances" going to just one child.

I'm confused about what you were hoping for in this thread OP. I'm detecting strong Team Rishi energy and a weak attempt to smear Starmer by making our that he is somehow the same or even more 'disconnected from real people' than Sunak.

They are thousands of miles apart. Starmer was a human rights lawyer - choosing to spend his intellectual capital and the excellent education he got due to his ability rather than money, on helping people rather than taking a big corporate salary. He could have multiplied his salary by 10 if he had decided to step into the finance world with his brain and qualifications. But he didn't- Sunak did that. Judge the men on their choices if you don't want to look to their personal circumstances (which, FWIW I think is totally relevant and that he and his wife have acted unethically and with significant conflict of interest in the case of Infosys in Russia.) - their choices and motivations. Sunak is in office to protect the fortune and privileges of his contacts. Starmer is there to continue his life-long mission to make lives better for ordinary people.

Then decide who will best serve your interests. If you're a billionaire, Team Rishi. Anyone else would be a turkey voting for Christmas.

@SwedishEdith

With much of the family’s finances going on their children’s education

The fees are currently £43,335 per annum (£14,445 per term). He's the eldest of 3 - don't know what schooling his siblings had - but that's a pretty significant chunk for "the family's finances" going to just one child.

Wasn't he a scholarship kid?