Taxpayers are footing the £500,000 bill to improve Rishi Sunak’s image – 11 highly unimpressed responses
Rishi Sunak hasn’t only been in the news for his political decisions or his reported disagreements with the PM over spending – he has also just made it onto the Sunday Times Rich List, at number 222 of the 1000 richest people in the UK.
I hear Rishi Sunak is the hottest new entry on the Sunday Times Rich list. Enjoy your cost of living crisis plebs and keep the noise down will you? Your chancellor is concentrating hard on counting all his sweet sweet cash while navigating a path to the highest office in the land
— Darren McGarvey (@lokiscottishrap) May 20, 2022
Nobody knows more about the struggle to make ends meet than Rishi Sunak, who has just made it onto the Sunday Times Rich List.
— Parody Boris (@Parody_PM) May 20, 2022
Isn’t it great Rishi Sunsk has made The Sunday Times rich list?
I’d rather have a Chancellor of the Exchequer who is a successful billionaire than some leftist ex social worker with a degree in Media Studies who wears skinny jeans.
The #CostOfLivingCrisis is in safe hands.👍🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/C0nhLZozCO— Sir Michael Take CBE (@MichaelTakeMP) May 20, 2022
Before the reaction to the extreme wealth of Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, had died down, it emerged that the Treasury has agreed a contract worth almost £10,000 a week until February 2023, for focus groups and polls aimed at monitoring and improving public perception of the chancellor.
The total cost will be around half a million pounds.
Rishi Sunak told the British people he has no money to ease the cost of living crisis and that cutting energy bills would be 'silly'.
It’s staggering he ordered half a million more of taxpayers’ money to be spent on his own private focus groups & polls🪞https://t.co/SDYVylo8PB
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) May 21, 2022
The Treasury tried to dimiss it as a non-story.
The Treasury line on this suggests it’s not a new thing, that the Treasury always does its own polling.
In 2019, Treasury spending on polling was zero pounds.
In 2020 it went up to around £240k
Contracts signed off since June 2020 top out at a total of £1.35m https://t.co/xKZMU9QqHP
— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) May 21, 2022
In keeping with much of the government spending under Boris Johnson, the £500,000 outlay might just have achieved the opposite of its intention.
1.
The guy who told us he has no money to ease the cost of living crisis
The guy who said cutting our energy bills would be ‘silly’
The guy who just entered The Sunday Times rich list
…just spent £500k of our cash on focus groups ‘to repair his image’https://t.co/1B3C8bRQEH
— Marina Purkiss (@MarinaPurkiss) May 21, 2022
2.
Sorrywhatpardon? https://t.co/7YNnnDnfCM
— James Oh Brien (@mrjamesob) May 22, 2022
3.
“Two focus groups and one online poll each week until February 2023 will take the total outlay to above £1.35m”
A rich man using public funds for personal gain, when he should be looking after public during a cost of living crisis – is not a great look. https://t.co/2Rm5dmCMJf
— Mike Galsworthy 🇺🇦 (@mikegalsworthy) May 21, 2022
4.
Let he who has not spent half a million pounds of other people's money in burnishing their image cast the first stone. pic.twitter.com/q4VhprOgup
— Otto English (@Otto_English) May 22, 2022
5.
Good morning @RishiSunak. Hope you are well. Just wanted to say that the £500,000 you spent of OUR money on YOUR image is not working!!! You are welcome 👏👏👏👍👍👍
— Mike Ward 🇺🇦 (@mjtward19) May 22, 2022
6.
It's the arrogance of the Tories to think that it's in the public's interest for the public to love Tories.
So much so that it's worth spending their taxes to make sure they do.https://t.co/C23vtTDIOl
— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) May 21, 2022
7.
Has Rishi Sunak considered trying to improve his public image by… oh, don't know… perhaps, quitting and moving back to America?
😁👍https://t.co/7YFMYcreLq— Stu Can Play At That Game… (@BTNStu) May 22, 2022
8.
If a man worth £760m wants to spend £500,000 getting focus groups to talk about his image, he should put his hands in his own pockets. People are literally starving and freezing out here.
— David__Osland (@David__Osland) May 22, 2022
9.
I could have told him that spaffing half a million up the wall on focus groups was a bloody awful idea for free. https://t.co/F9xQzOlscK
— Daniel Sohege 🧡 (@stand_for_all) May 22, 2022
10.
there is no magic money tree https://t.co/NYcc7TJqdL
— HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) May 21, 2022
11.
And yet he still comes across as an utter bellend https://t.co/nXLrz78Irv
— Hugo Topper 💙 (@Hugo_Topper) May 22, 2022
Cold War Steve didn’t need words to sum up the situation.
— Cold War Steve (@coldwarsteve) May 22, 2022
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Ed Miliband just tore Rishi Sunak a new one and it’s a brutal, hugely entertaining watch
Source Mirror Image Screengrab
