Rishi Sunak shelled out more than £10,000 to fly by private helicopter to a Conservative party dinner in Wales at the weekend. The multi-millionaire chancellor paid out of his own pocket for a return flight from Battersea heliport to the Conservative conference in Newtown, Powys.
The revelation will heighten concerns that he is too “out of touch” with ordinary voters to understand the impact of the cost of living crisis. Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty made the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time this week with their joint £730m fortune.
The chancellor suffered a major political blow after it emerged last month that his wife was non-domiciled for tax purposes – meaning she had avoided millions of pounds in UK tax. Treasury insiders said Mr Sunak, who took part in a Q&A with Tory former leader William Hague ahead of the dinner, travelled by helicopter to save time.
