Exclusive
Sunak's former tutor admits he wouldn't vote for him as PM
11 July 2022, 13:59 | Updated: 12 July 2022, 10:16
Rishi Sunak's old maths and physics tutor sheds light on the ambition of his father to send the young ex-Chancellor to Winchester College.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Just days after Rishi Sunak announced he was standing to become the next Prime Minister, a video surfaced of the ex-Chancellor speaking to the BBC when he was in his early 20s.
Read more: Rishi launches Tory leadership bid with swipe at Boris and pledge to rebuild economy
Read more: Boris won't 'ruin any candidate's chances' as 11 Tories line up in leadership battle
The video shows a young Mr Sunak stating that he has friends who are "Aristocrats", in the middle classes, and in the working classes – before instantly correcting himself by saying "well, not working class". Subsequently, the Tory leadership candidate has faced questions over whether he is disconnected from the struggles of working-class Brits.
Read more: Truss launches Tory leadership bid with pledge to cut taxes 'from day one'
Chris in Camberley phoned in to Tom Swarbrick to share his unique perspective on the matter.
The caller explained that he "tutored [Sunak] in maths and physics as a favour to his father in order to get him into Winchester School".
He explained that his then-girlfriend lived across from the Sunaks in Southampton, he had engineering degree, and Mr Sunak's father was his GP.
He went on to share a statement Mr Sunak's father made to him when he asked why he wanted to send the former Chancellor to Winchester.
Read more: Rishi vs Tory right: Truss and Patel set to battle Sunak over tax cuts
He went on to share a statement Mr Sunak's father made to him when he asked why he wanted to send the former Chancellor to Winchester.
Read more: Rishi vs Tory right: Truss and Patel set to battle Sunak over tax cuts
"His father's quote – and I can always remember it – was: 'You'll never get anywhere in this country unless you go to public school'."
"It, sort of, stuck in my mind, because the school he was already going to was pretty good – it was a better school than I'd been to."
Shelagh Fogarty on Rishi Sunak's incriminating video
"The ambition was quite staggering, on part of his father", he added.
Tom was taken aback by the statement, and wondered to what extent "that attitude might persist" in the mind of Rishi Sunak.
Read more: Tory rivals turn on each other as claims surface of S&M, affairs, prostitutes and drugs
"I can believe that the child then would have accepted that 100%, and I don't see that coming out of the character that we see some ten years later."
Tom closed the conversation by asking the caller whether he would vote for his former tutee as Prime Minister.
"I don't feel that anyone that's served under the current Prime Minister that hasn't objected strongly to some of the actions that have taken place, I don't believe any of them are fit to be Prime Minister," the caller said.
