Rishi Sunak is under fire yet again, following reports about his own personal wealth – just days after his controversial Spring statement was criticised for not helping alleviate the cost of living crisis.
The chancellor is believed to be the richest minister, but has presented himself as a relatable figure.
On Monday, he claimed that his family drives a Volkswagen Golf.
However, the Mirror has since reported that this is just the cheapest of the four cars the millionaire owns – allegedly, he also has a £94,000 “high-specification Range Rover” along with a “top of the range Lexus” and BMW.
These three other cars are kept at his other properties in Yorkshire and Santa Monica.
The Mirror’s exclusive came less than a week after the chancellor announced he was introducing a temporary 5p fuel duty cut in his Spring statement to alleviate cost of living concerns – a mini-budget heavily criticised for not providing struggling households with enough support.
So, as you can imagine, Sunak’s bid to downplay his personal wealth did not land well on Twitter.
This is not the first time Sunak has been called out for presenting himself as a relatable figure, despite his background.
When promoting his Spring statement last week, he used £30.01 of his own money to fill up a petrol tank at Sainsbury’s before later admitting the car pictured did not actually belong to him but a supermarket employee.
Sunak has also faced backlash when his expensive personal possessions have been caught in PR shots, such as his £180 supermug or his £95 sliders.
He has become a popular target for online memes too, with plenty of people happy to edit him into TV gameshows after he revealed his statement last week in a particularly bizarre PR photo.