United Kingdom Rishi Sunak
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been caught in a social media storm after visiting a homeless shelter. A chat with a man there paints Sunak as an unworldly leader out of touch with the poor English.
Yes, Reuters
During his visit to a homeless center in London on Friday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tied an apron to help distribute food at a soup kitchen. As he picked up his eggs and sausage, he struck up a conversation with a man sitting down to eat, introducing himself as Dean.
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“Do you work in the business world?” Chunak asked. Dean replied, “No, I’m homeless. I’m really homeless.’ Sunak casually chatted about the economy, then asked, “Can banking or finance help you?” Dean replied: ‘I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t know. I want to celebrate Christmas first.’
The scene, which was filmed in its entirety and circulated on social media like Twitter, did not do Sunak’s image any favors. The former Goldman Sachs banker and his wife Akshata Murthy – a wealthy heiress – are one of the wealthiest families in the UK. He is often accused of being out of touch with the common man, and the poor dialogue only confirms that image.
Angela Rayner of the opposition Labor party calls the video ‘intolerable’, while her party colleague Bill Estersen firmly believes Sunak is ‘worlds away’. “Does he even know what it’s like to be homeless?” is trending on social media.
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On a visit to the centre, Sunak wanted to highlight the £2bn earmarked for a three-year plan to tackle homelessness. “For too many people, a warm and safe Christmas is out of reach,” he wrote in his report on his visit to the homeless center.
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Labor MP Stella Creasy tweeted: “Seeing this makes the PM think he’s homeless, ‘no country at the moment’.”
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