Rishi Sunak’s Vacation: Taylor Swift and Disneyland. (The Rest Is a Secret.)
Thanks in part to careful media handling, the British prime minister, who has been criticized for his wife’s wealth and his U.S. ties, survived a trip to California with barely a peep of reproach.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain and his wife, Akshata Murty, with their daughters, Krishna, far left, and Anoushka in Santa Monica, Calif, this month.Credit…Emma Mcintyre/Getty Images
By Mark Landler
Aug. 16, 2023
Just last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s political fortunes almost collapsed over his wealthy wife’s privileged tax status in Britain. He was also criticized for holding a green card, which allowed him to live and work in the United States, sowing suspicions that his heart lay in California, where he began his career and where he met his wife at business school.
Yet last week, when Mr. Sunak and his family spent a 10-day vacation at their multimillion-dollar penthouse apartment in Santa Monica, Calif., there was scarcely a peep about it in the British papers.
The difference, analysts said, attests both to evolving views of Mr. Sunak, a onetime hedge fund manager who became prime minister last October, and to Downing Street’s shrewd media management of the Sunak family’s American vacation.
The family stayed largely under the radar, emerging only for a carefully staged photo opportunity at an amusement park on the Santa Monica Pier, playing games on what was Mr. Sunak’s first vacation in nearly four years. He and his wife, Akshata Murty, also took their two young daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, to Disneyland, where, he said, he was excited to try a “Star Wars”-themed ride.
The rest of the prime minister’s movements were largely the subject of social media hearsay. He was spotted at a 7 a.m. SoulCycle class by a woman who posted on TikTok that he must be a “Swiftie,” since the class worked out to Taylor Swift’s music. Further evidence for that came after reports that Mr. Sunak had caught a show by Ms. Swift, whose Eras tour rolled through Los Angeles while he was there.
Downing Street declined to confirm whether he was at the concert, in keeping with its policy of not commenting on every detail of his vacation. That gave Mr. Sunak a cloak of privacy unknown to American presidents, whose attempts at R & R are tediously documented by a trailing pool of reporters and photographers.
There was no evidence that Mr. Sunak socialized with Hollywood celebrities or Silicon Valley moguls during his time there. And the family’s other outings — the excursion to Disneyland and the rumored Taylor Swift concert — put them in the same company as thousands of families with young daughters.
Paradoxically, Mr. Sunak’s affluence might have helped rather than hurt him: Unlike some of his predecessors, who were invited by well-heeled businesspeople or celebrities, he almost certainly paid his own way.
Fair play to Rishi - no freeloading or hobnobbing … 
