To think the never ending criticism of Rishi Sunak is rooted in racism?

[FishPhoods]

I know he's not perfect as none of our politicians are! But I do feel like people are out to trip him up over personal things as much as possible. This Sky TV thing is Rodin my opinion - Rishi has never claimed to have had a difficult start or to have grown up in poverty. The journalist pressed him for what he went without in order that his parents could afford his private education and he said he always wanted Sky TV and never had it. He was saying it in a fairly lighthearted way he wasn't moaning or complaining!

People can't seem to handle the fact that he's wealthy and also the puns on his name and the claims he's "unpatriotic". I feel a little bit of thinly veiled racism creeping in.

I don't think racism remotely enters into it-

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he admit that it happened on his watch as DPP but because it was dealt with at a lower level and he was not informed, he was not responsible?
I think that speaks volumes of his lack of leadership skills.

Not all criticism of none white people is rooted in racism.

All PMs get ripped apart when they're a few weeks off being booted out. It is tradition. He wasn't even elected in the first place.

"He seems really sweet and well meaning"

Really? The guy's an avid Thatcherite and neoliberal who's been part of the government that's deliberately trashed public services and made life harder for the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country. Tory policy on the NHS is literally killing hundreds of people every week.

And he's done it all intentionally, with a shit eating grin on his face, while metaphorically sitting on a massive pile of gold.

BTW - apparently he earned 2.2 million quid last year. He paid an effective tax rate of 23% on it.

How much of your earnings did you pay in tax last year?

Cameron got quite a lot of stick in his year days as party leader about coming from a wealthy family and going to Eton etc. His response was that he acknowledged the privilege but that he wasn't going to apologise for an accident of birth or a parental decision about his education as neither were choices for him to make. After that the Bullingdon photos did the rounds and he got a lot of flack for that. However he and his wife were quite careful about how they appeared - flying easyjet to Spain, she wore and M&S dress to party conference (although that backfired a bit), holidays in Cornwall etc. Basically trying to appear relatable to middle England. Cameron was also reportedly livid with Rishi not attending all of D Day. He just had a bit more olitical nous than Sunak basically.

Don't you remember the Tory London mayoral candidate in May?

I felt all the way about all the PMs

He never was the right man for the job, but he was the ESTABLISHMENT'S choice and, when Liz Truss was selected by the party members, she was never given a chance before they manipulated the data on the economy to force her out.

How, exactly, did "the establishment" ensure Sunak got to be PM? Did they engineer Johnson's woeful performance to force him out so he'd be replaced by Truss who they could then dump and so replace by Sunak? If they had that much power, why did they allow Truss at all? Once Truss fell on her face, did they somehow get Mordaunt to stand, and then decide to withdraw? Or are you suggesting that Mordaunt is part of "the establishment"?

In short, what evidence have you got to show that your paranoid conspiracy theories have any basis in reality? Compared to, say, simply the end result of Tory party in-fighting and general lack of talent?

No - it’s rooted in exasperation that he is making decisions which have the potential to be unhelpful towards large swathes of the population, whilst being incapable of A. Checking his privilege and B. Thinking that no access to premium TV channels equates to, you know, not actually being able to cover bills AND food, let alone a TV, while working even an above minimum wage job…

What is he spending over a billion a day on for the 'country' last time I checked all my bills, Taxes everything is going up, nhs on its arse, council cutting more services but where is this billion a day going and why is he giving money to his wife's businesses? Or is that ok?

no, he is just an utter disgrace, all those young men who died. So few left now.

@VeryOldMan
"when Liz Truss was selected by the party members, she was never given a chance before they manipulated the data on the economy to force her out."

Is that you Liz? 😂

American far right crazy heading our way.

"American far right crazy heading our way."

WTF is that supposed to mean?

I have no doubt that some of his critics are racist. However, he’s unbelievable stupid. It’s clear to me that he’s only got where he is through a privileged background, having powerful sponsors and sheer tenacity. It’s not intelligence at all.

He’s floated to the top due to the above but it’s impossible for someone with a modicum of intelligence to make so many errors when he has access to so much support for his decision making. Maybe he’s arrogant and won’t listen to advice in conjunction with being stupid.

He strikes me as someone who was probably molly coddled and treated like a little prince through childhood. This coupled with his families money made him believe he was great and created a sense of entitlement and unshakeable self belief. The reason he seems depressed now is because he's been exposed and he knows the truth.

@Whenwillitgetwarm yes absolutely- he's obviously a clever lad who then was fed the 'how great are you' at Winchester - because it was playing to others like him- I think in his position it's very easy to have lost touch with reality and being a trader with other people's money is 'kind of fun' ( the way he will have seen it ) - the reality is to be a good PM - you need to govern 'for all' - and have the skin of a rhinoceros and a huge work ethic-

No, people criticise him because he's totally out of touch with the vast majority of the public. When you have as much wealth as he has,how can you have the slightest idea about people's financial struggles? Plus,his pursuit of and determination to demonise the most vulnerable in society,the sick and disabled, doesn't exactly make him popular. I don't see him getting any more criticism than Theresa May, David Cameron or Boris Johnson.

This really.

I disagree with many Tory policies but if doesn’t need to be personal. There is a definite edge to the criticism RS receives. Boris did far more damage but doesn’t receive half of the negativity,

Mate, they didn’t have TIME to plot. She fucked up so quickly they didn’t even need to.

Hmm.

As a billionaire, who vetoed laptops going out to deprived kids when schools shut at the start of the pandemic, I think he's a shit.

I would think that whatever the colour of his skin.

I think it is because he is shit at politics.

As a chancellor he just printed a fuck tonne of money that got wasted to fraud.

Liz Truss ended up wasting billions to prop up her mistakes.

Their predecessors increased debt to GDP by a lot and there is nothing to show for it.

Our economy was going to shit before COVID. Tories prioritised their ideology over growing the economy, but it didn't matter because they were doing well out of it. A lot of them are disaster capitalists.

The hate aimed at them is nothing to do with any protected characteristics, only the fact they were shit.

What press and social media are you consuming to get that idea? Because from where I sat I’d say Rishi hasn’t had half as much personal attack as Johnson did.

I didn’t mention press and social media. I’m talking about conversations with acquaintances. There is an absolute hated for RS that there doesn’t seem to be for BJ. But people don’t seem to know why they hate him, just that they do. I had a colleague tell me the other day that at least BJ had a personality - as though that makes up for years of bullshit. RS is apparently ‘out of touch’ but Etonian BJ was more ‘down to earth’. I mean, come on! Very few Conservative politicians are in touch with how normal people live. It’s why their policies are so fucking selfish. I can’t understand why people would believe that he’s somehow more entitled than the rest aside from racism - and believe me I am not a fan.

I don’t actually give a shit if RS is ridiculously wealthy because let’s face it, most politicians aren’t short of a bob or two. Imo his background is completely irrelevant. As is his ‘culture’ (I can only assume they are thinking of North Yorkshire when this comes up). I’m
more that happy to argue the toss over his shitty policies - there are many - but it doesn’t need to be personal.

Definitely sounds like a “friends” problem rather than a wider problem in that case.