Adam Boulton: How Sunak’s California holiday compares with past PMs
Interest rates are up, house prices are down, the small boats are still coming, and NHS doctors are striking.
Labour are still 20 points ahead of the Conservatives in the poll of polls.
As he contemplates his political future and the lack of progress on his five pledges, it is understandable that the prime minister might want a summer holiday break from the day job.
Rishi Sunak’s desire to get away can only have increased as he suffers personalised indignities.
Veteran campaigners from Greenpeace have given Just Stop Oil a lesson in how protest can be done, attracting attention without antagonising the public, by draping the Sunaks’ Yorkshire mansion in black.
Greenpeace activists on the roof of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s house
Even the prime minister’s sartorial choices have come under attack with an arrows-point-to-defective-parts scrutiny of his made to measure suits.
“Sunak needs his suits to be nipped in – anything else would drown him,” the style editor of The Daily Telegraph concedes, “but the cropped proportions mean his trouser leg rides up to mid-calf.”
Crisis, what crisis?
Only a few miserable souls will begrudge the prime minister some time off, especially since we are told that he will be back at work, in Blighty, in only a few days.
The modest length of his holiday will not take targets off his back. Prime ministers struggle to hit the right note with their holidays and usually get it wrong.
Is it too flashy? Too boring? Too foreign? Bad for the environment? And who is really paying for it?
These delicate questions explain why Number 10 spokespeople made the mistake of refusing to give details of where the Sunak family were heading.
It was an error because denial will only perk up interest.
Past form shows that newshounds were bound to sniff out the location anyway and would then pap photos more enthusiastically than if they had been served up with a photo opportunity.
David Cameron learnt this lesson the hard way after having his man boobs snapped on a Cornish beach.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha on holiday in Cornwall in 2015
From then on, Cameron holidays began with a posed picture, usually of the beshirted prime minister pointing at dead fish in a market.
It took less than 24 hours for Mr Sunak’s secret destination to be exposed.
The prime minister came clean in a rare extended radio phone-in which came across like a public request for permission to have a break afterwards. Sunak duly pleaded that this holiday is a “special trip”.
“We’re going to California, which is where I met my wife, so it’s very special to us,” he explained to listeners, “but the kids are very excited because I’m taking them to Disneyland”.
It later emerged that the Mickey Mouse visit may be as much for their father as for his daughters Krishna and Anoushka.
“They have sadly grown out of princesses,” the prime minister admitted – but “there’s a new, well not that new anymore, Star Wars bit of Disneyland which I’m very excited about”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, his wife Akshata Murty and daughters Anoushka and Krishna
Not much to complain about so far. Lots of Brits take their families Disneyward, though most opt for the shorter-haul flights to Disneyworld in Florida rather than Disneyland in California.
Sunak has long advertised his softer side as a Star Wars geek. He collects merchandise from the franchise including a toy lightsabre, and called in the cameras to film his visit to the last blockbuster episode, accompanying his then “boss” Sajid Javid.
A California beach holiday is a lot grander than Cornwall or the walks in the Alps and Snowdonia favoured by Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip.
The Sunaks are trying to muffle extravagance by flying “commercial” rather than indulging the prime minister’s predilection for private jets. That is canny of them – a “PJ” return trip for the family would cost around $300,000 (£235,000).
They’ll be more frugality because they’ll be no hotel or rental costs. The Sunak’s will be staying in the $5m (£3.9m) penthouse apartment they already own on Ocean Boulevard in Santa Monica.
Though whether it will be big enough to accommodate the prime ministerial entourage, funded by the taxpayer, is another question.
According to Cherie Blair, her husband’s prime ministerial vacations required the presence of “three garden girls (the Downing Street secretaries) to do shifts because he has to have a 24-hour office, the comms people to take in secure lines to the White House and No 10, the detectives who come every day with the red boxes”.
Mr Sunak may get by with a smaller team since he is only expecting “daily updates from his private office”.
The Blairs did not have the wealth of Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy.
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Sunak family stroll along California pier in holiday photos
Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, on holiday in Cumbria in 2002
Cherie admits the family were “house bandits” inviting themselves as guests in other people’s property.
Blair’s image was damaged by the hospitality he accepted from Sir Cliff Richard, the Bee Gee Maurice Gibb, the Bamford JCB dynasty and the Italian aristocrat Prince Girolamo Strozzi, among others.
Having pitched her tent on a campsite in Cornwall, the Labour MP Caroline Flint was surprised to see the then prime minister walking by.
That year, following the foot and mouth outbreak, the Blairs fitted in an unconvincing “holiday at home” away from the sun.
Margaret Thatcher used to impose on a friend as well. She spent several summer breaks away from Number 10 at the Swiss lakeside schloss of Lady Elenore Glover, the widow of a Tory MP.
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By all accounts she did not enjoy her leisure time and packed in as many official trips and visitors as she could.
The surprising exception was when she turned up in Cameron territory on a Cornish beach with a spaniel called Polo on a lead, and her husband Dennis.
It was the day after she had surgery on her hand, and the purpose was to demonstrate that the Iron Lady still had an iron grip under the bandages.
John Major and Gordon Brown did not attract attention with their holidays because they did not amount to much.
Major watched cricket and bought a second home in Norfolk.
A glum looking Brown took off his red tie in Suffolk but rushed back to London at the first news of anything happening.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah walk through Whitlingham Country Park in Trowse in 2008
Like much else during his premiership, Boris Johnson’s holiday diary was chaotic – including Perugia, Greece, Mustique and Margate.
It remains a mystery who picked up the tap for some of his luxury trips with Carrie.
He almost certainly did pay himself for their memorable budget trip to a remote Scottish cottage in 2020 with their new baby. That idyll was cut short when photographers took unauthorised pictures of the couple.
Prime Minister Sunak has not done himself any damage with this year’s family holiday.
He claims not to have had a proper one for four years. Efforts to get away last summer were certainly blighted by his leadership battle with Liz Truss and the death of the Queen.
He has not notched up any points as a man of the people either, with the well-heeled trip to California.
The choice confirms what the world already thought of the couple who met at the elite Stanford University, not far from Disneyland.
No score with the holiday can be seen as a win for this prime minister facing the live possibility that the next general election could free him “to spend more time with the family”, as ministers thrust out of office like to put it.
Otherwise, expressed in the cruder words to errant underlings of an old Sky News boss, “go on holiday permanently, mate!”.
UK
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh admits pleading guilty to offence in connection with misleading police in 2014
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has admitted pleading guilty to an offence connected with misleading the police while a parliamentary candidate in 2014, Sky News can reveal.
Sky News understands Ms Haigh appeared at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court six months before the 2015 general election, after making a false report to officers that her mobile phone had been stolen.
Ms Haigh said she was “mugged while on a night out” in 2013. She then reported the incident to the police and gave officers a list of items she believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone.
In a statement to Sky News, the transport secretary said she discovered “some time later” that “the mobile in question had not been taken”.
She added: “In the interim, I had been issued with another work phone.”
The transport secretary said: “The original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning.
“My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.
“The police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before Southwark magistrates.”
Ms Haigh continued: “Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty – despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain.
“The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome (a discharge) available.”
It’s understood her conviction is now classified as ‘spent’.
However, three separate sources claimed she made the false report to benefit personally, with two of the sources alleging she wanted a more modern work handset that was being rolled out to her colleagues at the time.
The now cabinet minister had been working as a public policy manager at Aviva, but two sources said she lost her job at the insurance firm because of the incident.
Her government profile states she left this role in 2015 before becoming the MP for Sheffield Heeley at that year’s general election.
Sky News understands the incident was disclosed in full when Ms Haigh was appointed to the shadow cabinet.
In the statement given to Sky News, the transport secretary said: “I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.”
Conservative Party Chairman Nigel Huddleston told Sky News the revelations are “extremely concerning”.
He added: “Keir Starmer has serious questions to answer regarding what he knew and when about the person he appointed as transport secretary admitting to having misled the police.”
Before entering politics, the transport secretary was a special constable in the Metropolitan Police – serving between 2009 and 2011 in the South London Borough of Lambeth, close to where she was convicted several years later.
Louise Haigh was a special constable from 2009-2011. Pic: www.louisehaigh.org.uk
She was appointed shadow policing minister by Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and frequently drew on her experience in the Met when challenging the Tory government on the rising demands on officers.
As transport secretary, Ms Haigh appoints members of the board that oversees the British Transport Police.
In 2019 she said that Boris Johnson had “deceived the police” and committed a “serious breach of trust” over claims he politicised serving officers during a speech in West Yorkshire.
Sir Keir Starmer promoted the Sheffield MP to shadow Northern Ireland secretary in 2020 before moving her to shadow transport secretary in 2021.
In this brief she has been an outspoken critic of the mass sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries in 2022.
In October, while transport secretary, she accused P&O of being a “rogue operator” and called for a boycott of its services.
The comments caused the firm’s Dubai-based owner to review a planned £1bn UK port investment – something that was re-confirmed after ministers held urgent talks with the company.
Louise Haigh has been the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley since 2015
But she was publicly rebuked by Sir Keir who said her opinions were “not the view of the government”.
With connections to former Downing Street chief of staff Sue Gray, there has been speculation her cabinet role could be under threat in a future reshuffle.
Ms Gray’s son, Labour MP Liam Conlon, is Ms Haigh’s parliamentary private secretary and acts as her “eyes and ears” in parliament, while another of her former employees also worked for the former chief of staff before she was sacked after losing a power struggle within Number 10.
As transport secretary, Ms Haigh was one of a handful of cabinet ministers who complained to the Treasury about impending cuts in the budget.
She is considered to be one of the more left-wing members of the cabinet and has vowed to “rip up the roots of Thatcherism” with her plans for rail and bus reform.
In 2015, Ms Haigh was one of a number of Labour MPs to nominate Mr Corbyn for leader – a decision she later said she regretted.
UK
MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace steps down as Kirsty Wark among 13 who claim he made inappropriate sexual jokes
MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has stepped down over allegations he made a series of inappropriate sexual comments on a range of programmes over 17 years.
Broadcaster Kirsty Wark is among 13 people who have made claims, with Wallace being investigated by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK.
In an interview with the BBC, the Newsnight presenter, who was a celebrity contestant on MasterChef in 2011, claimed Wallace used “sexualised language”.
“There were two occasions in particular where he used sexualised language in front of a number of people and it wasn’t as if it was anyone engaged with this,” Wark said.
“It was completely one-way traffic. I think people were uncomfortable and something that I really didn’t expect to happen.”
Sky News has contacted Wallace’s representative for comment.
Kirsty Wark. File pic: PA
‘Fully cooperating’
Banijay UK said the complaints were made to the BBC this week by “individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with Gregg Wallace on one of our shows”.
The company said the 60-year-old, who has been a co-presenter and judge of the popular cooking show since 2005, was “committed to fully cooperating throughout the process”.
“Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate,” the company said.
“While this review is under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process.
“Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.
“Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.”
A BBC spokesman said: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.
“We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.
“Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.”
Previous investigation
Last month, Wallace responded to reports that a previous BBC review had found he could continue working at the corporation following reports of an alleged incident in 2018 when he appeared on Impossible Celebrities.
Wallace said those claims had been investigated “promptly” at the time and said he had not said “anything sexual” while appearing on the game show more than half a decade ago.
In an Instagram post following an article in The Sun newspaper, he wrote: “The story that’s hitting the newspapers was investigated promptly when it happened six years ago by the BBC.
“And the outcome of that was that I hadn’t said anything sexual. I’ll need to repeat this again. I didn’t say anything sexual.”
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Alongside MasterChef, Wallace presented Inside The Factory for BBC Two from 2015.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014. Pic: PA
Wallace has featured on various BBC shows over the years, including Saturday Kitchen, Eat Well For Less, Supermarket Secrets, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, as well as being a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in 2014.
He was made an MBE for services to food and charity last year.
Recorded episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals featuring Wallace will be transmitted as planned, the PA news agency understands.
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