Sunak’s seat is ‘the Surrey of the North’, MP claims

AN UNNAMED Yorkshire MP has described the Richmond parliamentary constituency held by Rishi Sunak as ‘the posh bit’ of Yorkshire.

The Sunday Times has spoken to associates and friends of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for an in-depth profile of his life and career which was published yesterday.

Mr Sunak has held the Richmond seat since 2015 and the Conservatives have held it since 1910. It has a mostly rural population, a prominent agricultural sector, and constituents are overwhelmingly ‘self-supporting’, meaning very few receive welfare payments from the state.

The anonymous source –who also represents a Yorkshire seat – has gone even further, by describing Richmond and its surrounding district as ‘the posh bit’ of Yorkshire and likening it to ‘the Surrey of the North’.

The quoted MP went on to say ‘there is almost no deprivation’ in the constituency and that Conservative Central Office were influential in Mr Sunak’s selection as William Hague’s successor.

Mr Sunak and his family live in a Georgian manor house near Northallerton, with 12 acres of grounds. They host a lavish garden party every summer and are involved in local life. The Chancellor has been photographed hiking in the nearby Hambleton Hills.

The Sunday Times also compared Richmond to Surrey. It said Surrey may be home to Hampton Court – a favoured palace of King Henry VIII – but Richmond has Kiplin Hall, a country house with extensive grounds and gardens; not to mention the fortress of Richmond Castle.

The River Thames may meander through Surrey on its way to London, but the River Swale is a wilder and more beautiful river. On hot days visitors flock to the cascades at Richmond Falls.