British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire home is once again in news and not for good reasons. The $4,80,000 (£400,000) private heating swimming pool installed on Sunak’s property uses so much energy that the local electricity grid has had to be upgraded to meet the surging power demand, as per a Guardian report.
While UK residents brave a cost of living crisis, compounded by increased electricity bills, Sunak’s 12-metre swimming pool receiving an upgraded grid has irked many.
Sunak has been the owner of the property since 2015, having bought it for £1.5m, shortly after becoming an MP from Richmond. Sunak upgraded the manor house by starting the construction of a new heated swimming pool, gym and tennis court.
Consequently, the engineers had to install a substantial amount of equipment and a new connection to the National Grid that runs across the fields. The publication stated that Sunak had paid the upgradation money from his personal funds.
Sunak’s pool property receiving extra attention comes in the backdrop of over 350 pools and leisure centres being closed or forced to cut back hours due to high energy costs, across the UK.
Notably, this is not the first instance when Sunak has garnered headlines for his expensive tastes or extravagant splurging of money.
Last year, Sunak visited a building site in Teesside, Northern England where he was spotted wearing $595 Prada suede loafers. In 2020, as the Chancellor of the country, he was spotted using a $220 mug in a traditional pre-Budget photograph.
Reports of Akshata Murthy, Sunak’s wife touted to be wealthier than late British Queen Elizabeth II with assets worth $495 million also invited the spotlight on the Tory leader.
Similarly, when Sunak decided to run for the PM position, a clip from a video documentary went viral on social media platforms where Sunak could be seen talking about his “aristocratic” friends.
“I have friends who are aristocrats, I have friends who are upper-class, I have friends who are, you know, working-class. Well, not working class,” Sunak said in the BBC documentary titled ‘Middle Classes- Their Rise & Sprawl’.
The video brought a lot of flak for Sunak who was dubbed ‘out-of-touch’ with reality.
(With inputs from agencies)
