Rishi Sunak and his wife gave $3million to a mega-rich US college while UK schools scrimp and save to afford even the basics.
The “absolutely staggering” donation paid for a computing lab at Claremont McKenna in California, where the PM’s wife Akshata Murty studied economics and French as an undergraduate. Fees are $86,500 a year for tuition and board.
Its hi-tech facility – with top-of-the-range computers and state-of-the-art chairs at £650 a throw – is named the Murty Sunak Quantitative and Computing Lab in the couple’s honour.
Their names appear on a sign outside and on the door. The donation in 2018 came three years after Mr Sunak became MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire.
It was previously reported he and his wife gave more than £100,000 to his old public school, Winchester College.
Claremont McKenna has a $1.1billion fortune thanks to benefactors – a sum beyond the wildest dreams of schools in Mr Sunak’s own patch. Leyburn Primary, for example, had to put on a family fun day to buy computers.
The Parents, Teachers and Friends Association has raised £5,000, enough for nine computers to replace 15-year-old machines. But it needs another £10,000 to get 18 more so every pupil in a class can use one at the same time.
Mel Wise, chair of the PTFA, said: “It’s a joke. Like Whitney Houston would say, the children are our future. Why are we not investing in them more?”
The PTFA is holding a midsummer ball this month to raise further cash. Mr Sunak has said he is unable to attend but has offered to provide a raffle prize.
Labour’s Bridget Phillipson was astonished to learn the PM had given cash to the US college at a time UK state schools were being starved of resources. The Shadow Education Secretary said: “Tories are failing a generation of children, after 13 years of investing less in education than the last Labour government. Parents are being asked to contribute more and more to core school costs even as their own incomes shrink and costs soar.
“Meanwhile private schools in Britain and America are getting handouts from our out-of-touch Prime Minister’s own pocket. It is absolutely staggering.”
Leyburn Primary is typical of schools across England which face a massive squeeze on finances. While education funding will be restored to 2010 levels next year, some schools are in poverty.
Heads have had to ask parents to donate essentials such as toilet roll, pens and paper. Staff routinely buy equipment out of their own pocket – and work unpaid hours.
A survey of 1,428 teachers by the Sutton Trust found 42% had cut back on IT equipment, up from 27% last year.
Claremont McKenna, meanwhile, describes itself as one of the US’s “top liberal arts colleges”.
The university is located on a “scenic, tree-lined” campus 30 miles east of Los Angeles. It is part of a group of colleges that models itself on Oxford University.
Famous “old boys” include the late actor Robin Williams.
The PM’s wife has been a member of the board of trustees since 2011.
She has indicated the decision to fund the computing lab was inspired by her billionaire father Narayana Murty.
He is co-founder of Indian IT firm Infosys and is famed for his motto: “In God we trust. And everyone else must bring data to the table.”
The lab has Movi Nester chairs with a range of adjustments to “distribute pressure evenly across the back and seat for better, long-term support”.
As well as the $3million donation, the couple have established the Akshata Murty and Rishi Sunak Professorship in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the university.
Their names are etched on a Founders Wall that recognises individuals who have given more than $1million.
After graduating in 2002, Ms Murty studied for a Masters in Business Administration at Stanford University, where she met Mr Sunak. They married in 2009 and have two daughters. The couple are the richest-ever inhabitants of No10 Downing Street with an estimated £520milllion fortune, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Much of their wealth is thanks to the £481million stake Ms Murty holds in Infosys.
The couple’s property empire includes a £1.5million manor house in the PM’s constituency.
They built a new swimming pool in the grounds, using so much energy that the local electricity network had to be upgraded to meet demand.
They also own a £7million London home in Kensington and a £5.5million penthouse overlooking the beach in Santa Monica, California – an hour’s drive from Claremont McKenna.
Mr Sunak faced a backlash last year while Chancellor after it emerged his wife was a non-dom, meaning she did not have to pay UK taxes on overseas income. He said she had not done anything wrong and it was unfair to attack her as a “private citizen”.
But after negative headlines, Ms Murty announced she would pay UK taxes. Mr Sunak is currently under investigation by the Commons sleaze watchdog over claims he failed to properly declare his wife’s interests.
At a Commons grilling, he did not tell MPs she owns shares in a childcare firm that was boosted by a key Budget policy. A standards probe is now looking into claims the PM broke the MPs’ code of conduct.
There is no requirement on Mr Sunak to declare his donation to Claremont McKenna.
A source close to him said last night: “The PM and his wife give money to a wide range of philanthropic causes and charities.”
