The Prime Minister’s local political opponents have criticised his decision to donate $3m to a college in the US.
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty paid for a computing lab at Claremont McKenna in California where his wife studied economics and French as an undergraduate, it emerged in the national press at the weekend.
Fees are $86,500 a year for tuition and board at the college.
The facility, which reportedly has hi-tech chairs that cost £650 each, is named the Murty Sunak Quantitative and Computing Lab in the couple’s honour.
Their names appear on a sign outside and on the door.
The donation in 2018 came three years after Mr Sunak became MP for Richmond.
Last night, The MP’s political opponents in Richmondshire lined up to criticise the donation.
Daniel Callaghan, Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate, will go head to head with Rishi Sunak in next year’s general election.
He said: “While every single school across his own constituency struggles to make ends meet because of years of Tory underfunding, Rishi Sunak is handing millions of pounds to a private school in California.
“You couldn’t make it up. This man is out of touch and needs to go. We deserve better.”
Green Party county councillor Kevin Foster, who represents Hipswell and Colburn on North Yorkshire Council, said: “It’s clear that wherever Rishi Sunak’s loyalties lie they are not with the people and families here in his North Yorkshire constituency.
“This is why people should vote for a local candidate to be their MP, who they know will always put their interests first.”
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Most of us wish our leaders and their parties to be motivated by a desire to improve the quality of life of fellow citizens and improve the chances of the disadvantaged. As ever, talk is cheap; actions show motives more clearly than words. The benevolent veneer of the ex-one-nation Conservative party is falling off, exposing the harsh realities of what Theresa May described as the “Nasty Party.” The Tory party seems dominated by those with vast wealth, little concern for the livelihoods of the common people. Those at the top appear to crave adulation whilst enabling corruption and incompetence as indicated by millions wasted on defective and overpriced PPE and the discredited “Eat out to spread it about” scheme championed by Rishi Sunak against the advice of the better informed.
Whilst the selection of the bright, well spoken, second-generation economic migrant Mr Sunak as the Parliamentary Candidate in 2015 seemed like a progressive step to many, others in the selection committee were not so impressed and didn’t vote for him. Perhaps, as Mrs Merton observed, it was his vast wealth which was persuasive? We now know that right up until part-way through his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer that he carried a Green Card; his allegiance was at least split, he was a permanent resident of the USA!
The Tory party has recently accepted £5million from the Egyptian Ex-Mubarak minister Mohamed Mansour and made him its senior treasurer.
The local charity Hambleton FoodShare, and national charity the Trussell Trust are supplying record breaking quantities of food to some of those struggling. The services from our GPs & hospitals are deteriorating due to chronic neglect, schools cannot attract or retain key staff, the criminal justice system is failing. Sewage frequently pollutes our rivers whilst £billions of dividends have been paid to the shareholders of the water companies. Seemingly oblivious, or isolated from and indifferent, to such problems of the less wealthy, Sunak and his slick public relations team try to distract us from these preventable crises with photo ops, sound bites and irresponsible taunts. Bizarrely, the man who promised integrity and accountability when he entered 10 Downing Street, is refusing to release information to the Covid enquiry led by Lady Hallett. Perhaps in his eyes, and words, she’s another “lefty lawyer” to be denigrated and ignored?
It’s time for the voters to show Sunak the red card and for him to resume his USA Green card.
Greed, corruption, sleaze and cronyism and above all lack of compassion shown continually by this Government is appalling. However, I don’t think Keir Starmer is the answer. It’s Liberals or Greens for me.