CAN RISHI SUNAK RESIST SANTA MONICA’S CHARMS?
On a characteristically warm June morning, tourists and fisherman mingled on Santa Monica pier and took in the sight of one of California’s most picturesque spots.
Just five minutes from Rishi Sunak’s holiday home, stalls on the pier competed for business selling cold bottles of his favourite drink, Mexican-recipe Coca-Cola, and wooden signs bearing the message: “Life is good.”
More than five thousand miles away, life for the embattled prime minister is not good.
The latest polls predict that Mr Sunak will lead his party into the biggest defeat in its history on July 4. Tory big beasts have already begun soft-launched leadership campaigns to replace him, and even his most loyal defenders have publicly conceded that victory is impossible.
An exclusive poll for The Telegraph published earlier this week showed Mr Sunak was set to become the first sitting prime minister ever to lose their seat at a general election.
It is little wonder that Westminster is alight with speculation that he plans to leave the country immediately after polling day if he does lose his seat, and return to the US state he once called home.
Mr Sunak has repeatedly denied claims he will resign his seat – if he can hold onto it. He says the UK is his home, and that he will serve a full parliament in opposition.
But it is easy to see why the prospect of escaping to the Golden State might be an attractive one.
It was there that he met his future wife, Akshata Murty, while studying for a master’s degree at Stanford University.
The couple married in 2009 and settled in Santa Monica, in a condo building on the beach.
Upmarket penthouse
Mr Sunak took a job at Theleme Partners, a hedge fund, while Ms Murty started her own fashion label. In 2014, the year before he entered parliament, the couple moved to an even more upmarket penthouse apartment in the newly-constructed Waverly Building on Ocean Avenue.
Since then, they have maintained their ties to Santa Monica – a suburb sometimes dubbed “Little Britain” for its large population of expats.
The couple still own the penthouse, which offers stunning views of the suburb’s world-famous pier, spurring suggestions they plan to turn it from a holiday home back into a permanent residence after the election.
The apartment has stood virtually empty for almost a decade, but it has appreciated rapidly in value.
The Sunaks’ most recent tax bill, seen by The Telegraph, estimates its value at more than $8 million (£6.3 million), with annual state charges of $93,000.
The tax is more than eight times the combined council tax the couple pay on their three properties in the UK – a manor house in North Yorkshire and two homes in west London.
The Waverly Building, described by one local as “a dream come true”, is home to some influential names. For two years, the Sunaks were neighbours with the four-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand and her director husband, Joel Cohen.
Current residents include Ann Colgin and Joe Wender, the husband-and-wife duo behind the global wine firm Colgin Cellars, and a television producer who claims partial credit for the creation of Top Gear.
The Sunaks have also kept their names in good standing with donations to an LA university once attended by Ms Murty, establishing the Akshata Murty ’02 and Rishi Sunak Professorship of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
The current holder, Dr Adrienne Martin, gave a lecture to mark her appointment in 2015 entitled “Broken Campaign Promises and Their Emotional Aftermath”.
Good standing
A $3 million donation to the same college by the couple in 2018 paid for a new computer lab that bears their name.
A receptionist in the Sunaks’ building declined to answer questions on how often the family visits Santa Monica.
But one well-publicised trip took place in August last year, when the couple and their children stayed for a summer holiday.
A limited itinerary briefed to the press included a photoshoot on Santa Monica pier, a trip to the nearby Disneyland resort and a night out at a Taylor Swift concert. Reporters were otherwise asked to leave the family alone.
The prime minister was, however, spotted at a Taylor Swift spin class at a nearby branch of SoulCycle – a trendy workout chain by a TikTok influencer. An employee at the company this week grinned at the mention of Mr Sunak, but declined to comment on his cycling abilities.
Locals said the family also spent an evening at Sushi Roko, a fashionable Japanese restaurant on the seafront. A waiter who served the group said they turned up in several cars with police protection and sat in their own booth.
Could the couple soon be regulars? With the election approaching, the latest rumour is that the couple have already signed up their two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, for a place in one of LA’s top private schools.
“There’s been chatter about schools for the last four or five months, since the local elections,” said one disgruntled Conservative MP fighting to keep their seat on July 4.
“Then, when the election was called, there were a lot of MPs who were furious about it and people were saying it’s just because he’s had enough and wants to bugger off to California.
“It comes up with voters on the doorstep – hence his poll ratings. People say he’s not interested in this country and he just wants to get over to America.”
Prestigious installations
If the couple were to relocate to California with their children, it is likely they would hire one of LA’s “educational consultants”, who charge up to $10,000 to get two students into the city’s most prestigious institutions.
Several consultants told The Telegraph that the Sunaks’ shortlist would likely include two of LA’s most elite and expensive schools, Harvard-Westlake and Brentwood. Each charge almost $50,000 a year per student.
One consultant, who is known for her work with Hollywood A-listers, is rumoured among her competitors to have taken up work for the Sunaks in recent months.
She declined to comment when approached by The Telegraph, citing the convention of consultants signing non-disclosure agreements with their clients.
Mr Sunak has denied that he is planning to send his children to school in LA next year.
A source close to Mr Sunak said: “The prime minister will stay in the UK where his girls go to school and his family are happy.
“And he will be very proud to continue representing the good people of Richmond if he should be re-elected on July 4.”
However, those speculating about Mr Sunak’s post-election plans believe he could look for a job that would combine his previous career in finance and his interest in technology and AI, if he is left without a job come July 5.
Some in government point to the time in office he has spent on the UK tech sector – an area of comparatively little interest to his predecessors in Number 10.
A Telegraph analysis of Mr Sunak’s declared meetings with external stakeholders last year found that more than ten per cent of all meetings included discussions about AI or tech.
Pet project
Even the Archbishop of Canterbury was hauled in to discuss the prime minister’s pet project, an AI Safety Summit held at Bletchley Park in November. Attendees included Kamala Harris, the US vice-president and former California senator.
The most persistent rumour of Mr Sunak’s future employment surrounds his relationship with Steve Schwartzman, the founder of the asset management firm Blackstone.
The pair saw each other at least five times last year, including at a private meeting that The Telegraph understands took place on Dec 18 – a year before the date Mr Sunak was legally required to call an election.
The meeting was not disclosed in Civil Service records, which do not require ministers to reveal social gatherings.
The suggestion by Tory insiders is that Mr Schwartzman may launch a new “AI fund” to be based in California and run by Mr Sunak.
Although both men deny that any such conversations have taken place, staff at both the Conservative party and Blackstone believe it may happen.
On a visit to the company’s new London headquarters in February, Mr Sunak joked: “Where’s my office?”
Other regular visitors to Downing Street have included representatives from OpenAI and major tech firms, including Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google.
“He’s very close with Sundar,” said a Whitehall source, pointing to their shared connection to California and Indian heritage. “They’re mates, and they have known each other for a long time.”
AI regulation
It is thought that Mr Sunak could take up an AI regulation role with the company, using his connection to Mr Pichai and experience establishing the UK’s AI Safety Institute.
A government source familiar with Mr Sunak’s discussions on AI said they were baffled at his “strange” interest in the subject, and decision to personally oversee the creation of the institute.
“He would regularly say that the job he really wants in government is the science and tech job,” the source said.
“It is strange that he took such an interest in it, and it was to the frustration of some people in No 10. AI is obviously of importance, and of increasing importance, but there is no political importance whatsoever.”
That experience, however, would be a major boon to Mr Sunak if he chose to join a Silicon Valley tech company, as Sir Nick Clegg did with Facebook after losing his seat in 2017. Google’s global headquarters is in Mountain View, California – a 90-minute flight from LA.
To take up a role in the US, Mr Sunak would be required to reapply for a green card – the immigration document that allows foreigners to settle for work.
He held a card until 2021, when he was advised by officials to formally relinquish it ahead of his first ministerial visit to the US.
At the time, he had been living in the UK permanently for at least six years, despite US immigration guidance that states green card holders should live in America full time, other than for short trips abroad.
Mr Sunak has since denied that he broke any rules by holding onto the card, or that he retained it in order to move back to the US after the election. Asked about it in April, he told The Sun: “The UK is my home.”
As a former prime minister, Mr Sunak would be automatically assigned armed police protection for life by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec).
The Government does not talk about the process involved in the protection for security reasons, but a Home Office source said Mr Sunak would undergo a formal assessment, and that officers would stay with him in California if he moved there to manage the security implications of his diary.
Security bill
The bill for the security can run into millions of pounds if the “principal” travels abroad, as ministers discovered when Sir Tony Blair began consulting for foreign governments after leaving office in 2008.
In February 2020, the Home Office downgraded security provided to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex over concerns about the cost of stationing officers at their home in nearby Montecito.
Two blocks from the Sunaks’ apartment, British expats gathered in the King’s Head pub on Sunday for England’s first match of the Euros tournament.
They said they could understand why the Tory leader would swap SW1 for California.
Alfie Bloom, 28, who relocated to LA from Islington five years ago, said: “I guess it’s better for him to move away.
“I know he’s ridiculed a lot back home, and he would probably get stuff shouted at him on the street every day of his life. He’d have a better life here.”
David Oakes, a 64-year-old British plumber, agrees. “They wouldn’t bother him here,” he said.
“I’m sure he wants to lead a quiet life. He’s not going to get hounded by paparazzi – no chance. They won’t even know who he is.”
2024-06-22T08:04:44Z dg43tfdfdgfd