What’s wrong with Rishi Sunak’s family holiday in California?

Is there anywhere a prime minister can go on holiday without facing criticism asks Sean O’Grady?

Not Skegness: Santa Monica Boulevard is far from Downing Street and Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Rishi Sunak is escaping Britain’s wet and windy washout summer for a holiday at his apartment in Santa Monica, California. He says it will be a “really special” trip after a few years without a “proper” family summer holiday due to Covid and political events. He said his daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, are “very excited” about heading to Disneyland during the trip. Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden will be at the helm and No 10 says Mr Sunak will be getting “daily updates from his private office, particularly on anything that is urgent”.

“We’re going to California, which is where I met my wife, so it’s very special to us, but the kids are very excited because I’m taking them to Disneyland,” he told LBC’s Nick Ferrari.

His press secretary was later asked if Mr Sunak had managed a holiday after last summer’s interminable Tory leadership contest. “He tried to, yes,” said the spokesperson. “He was in a Spanish island for all of about 15 hours, then he came back due to the Queen’s passing.”