Rishi Sunak has begun a 10-day family holiday in California – leaving behind a series of troubles in the UK.
Official pictures published on Thursday showed the PM with his wife Akshata Murty and their daughters Krishna, 12, and Anoushka, ten, on the waterfront of the US tourist hotspot of Santa Monica.
The couple reportedly own a $7.2m (£5.5m) penthouse in the wealthy Californian enclave.
It comes as Greenpeace protestors clambered upon the roof of Sunak’s UK home in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England hiked interest rates for the 14th successive month in a row as inflation remains stubbornly high, and Wilko, the discount retailer, announced that administrators had been appointed, putting 12,000 jobs on the line if no buyer can be found.
On Wednesday, the prime minister, who claims to have not had a family holiday in years, told LBC he was going to be jetting out of the country for some time off in just a few hours’ time.
Oliver Dowden, who became the deputy PM back in April after close Sunak ally Dominic Raab resigned over bullying allegations, is in charge, he said.
Sunak continued: “So we’re having our first proper family summer holiday in a few years for sure – I’m very much looking forward to spending time with my kids.”
The PM daughters have mostly kept out of the public eye, but Sunak occasionally shares photos of family events.
After studying for a degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, Sunak took an MBA at Stanford University in California where he met his wife, the daughter of India’s sixth richest man.