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Millionaire Rishi Sunak trolled for saying he didn’t have Sky TV as a kid. Viral video
Rishi Sunak criticised for struggling to give example of childhood sacrifice in interview
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has once again found himself the subject of social media trolling after saying that he went without “lots of things” as a child - then struggling to give one example when pressed before finally settling on “Sky TV” as something he did not have growing up.
Sunak, 44, was born in the UK to parents of Indian descent. His father was a general practitioner while his mother was a pharmacist who ran a chemist shop.
In an interview with ITV to be aired today, the UK prime minister said his parents sacrificed a lot while he was growing up. Their first priority, said Sunak, was the education of their children.
“When you are wealthier than the king, what do you do to make sure you are still in touch with the kind of struggles ordinary people face?” the interviewer asked Sunak, who is married to Akshata Murty, daughter of Infosys billionaire Narayana Murthy. The couple’s combined net worth touched £651 this year, making them richer than King Charles.
In response to the interviewer’s question – “have you ever gone without something?” – Sunak said his parents immigrated to the UK with “very little” and that is how he was raised, with values of hard work.
“What did you go without as a child?” the interviewer asked again.
“I went without lots of things.. My parents wanted to put everything into our education,” said Sunak, who was educated at the private boarding school Winchester College.
(Also read: Rishi Sunak’s ₹79,000 Tumi bag steals spotlight as he takes sleeper train for poll campaign)
“So what sorts of things had to be sacrificed?” the interviewer pressed, to which Sunak again replied “Lots of things.”
Asked once again to give an example, the former investment banker said: “Lots of things. There’ll be all sorts of things that I would’ve wanted as a kid that I couldn’t have. Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually.”
Take a look at a video of the interaction below:
Rishi Sunak’s response was met with amusement as well as resentment on social media. The UK prime minister, who has, several times in the past, faced allegations of being out of touch with working class people, once again came under fire for his reply.
A look at some of the tweets taking a dig at Sunak:
Many people pointed out that Sunak attended one of the country’s most expensive schools
Some people also brought up an older interview in which Rishi Sunak said he did not have any working class friends while growing up.
In 2022, Sunak became the first front-line British politician to feature on the Sunday Times' annual rich list.
