UK PM to move to ‘small’ Downing Street flat: A look at the other opulent homes of ‘Rishi Rich’

UK’s uber-rich prime minister Rishi Sunak and his family will live in the two-bedroom flat above number 10 Downing Street. Sunak, along with his wife and two daughters, stayed in that flat when was the chancellor of the exchequer to Boris Johnson.

“They will be moving into the No 10 flat,” the prime minister’s press secretary was quoted as saying by AFP.

The spokeswoman also said she did not know if Sunak had any plans to redecorate the flat.

When asked why Sunak chose the number 10 flat when his predecessors have opted to live in the larger flat above number 11, the Downing Street spokeswoman said: “They were very happy there”, reports BBC.

What is the significance of 10 Downing Street for British premiers and why has the flat made headlines in the past? How does the ‘small’ flat pale in comparison to Rishi Sunak’s other luxurious residences? Let’s take a look.

10 Downing Street

According to the British government’s website, number 10 Downing Street has been the resident of UK prime ministers since 1735.

Number 10 has three functions: the official residence of the prime minister, their office and where the prime minister entertains guests ranging from royalty to world leaders.

“The building is much larger than it appears from its frontage. The hall with the chequered floor immediately behind the front door lets on to a warren of rooms and staircases,” says the UK government website.

The building is linked to another property behind and has also occupied much of number 12, reports AFP.

Another attraction of the number 10 Downing Street is the cat, Larry, who has lived there since 2011. Larry, the first cat at number 10 to be bestowed with the title of Chief Mouser, has often caught the public’s attention and has become an internet sensation.

When Downing Street flats hit the headlines

Number 10 flat is traditionally occupied by the UK prime minister, while chancellors usually lived in the larger flat above number 11.

However, former UK prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie had first swapped homes with the then-unmarried Gordon Brown, who was his chancellor.

In 2011, the then-British premier David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron renovated the number 11 flat at a cost of £30,000.

Days before Theresa May was due to move in 2016, The Sun reported she was planning to refurbish the number 11 flat.

Recently, Boris Johnson was embroiled in a row over an expensive revamp of the number 11 flat during his tenure as the prime minister– which led to the Conservative Party being fined £17,800, reports BBC.

The UK prime minister receives an annual public grant of £30,000 to spend on living quarters. However, the makeover by Johnson and his wife Carrie Symonds had cost more than £200,000.

Rishi Sunak’s grand houses

The new British prime minister owns four opulent residences in the UK as well as abroad.

Rishi Sunak, who is married to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murty, owns a five-bedroom mews mansion in Kensington, west London.

Akshata is one of the wealthiest people in the UK with a reported net worth of 730 million pounds.

Spread across four storeys, the couple’s Kensington mews home has four bathrooms, two reception rooms and a private garden, reports Express.co.uk.

As per Express.co.uk report, the mansion costs around £6.6million. Sunak also has a first-floor flat on Old Brompton Road in Kensington which acts as a “holiday home for visiting relatives”, the report adds.

The British prime minister along with his wife and two daughters also has a remote country abode in the Yorkshire village of Kirby Sigston.

The 19th-century mansion located on a 12-acre plot of land near Northallerton is called the Manor House and is estimated at a value of $2.3 million.

Sunak also has plans to upgrade the place by adding a stone building to “host a new home leisure facility such as gym, showers and a huge 12-metre pool”, as per Express.co.uk.

This English country retreat falls within the Tory MP’s constituency, Richmond (York).

The fourth property owned by the Sunak family is in Santa Monica, California in the USA.

The sea-facing penthouse in Santa Monica is valued at $7.2 million, as per Magic Bricks.

According to Express.co.uk, the US abode is thought to be an ‘ode’ to when Sunak and Akshata Murty stayed in America while studying at Stanford University.

After the couple’s wedding in 2009, they initially based themselves in California but later shifted to the UK.

The Yorkshire mansion and Californian home are under Akshata’s name while Sunak is officially the owner of the London properties, reports Express.co.uk.

With inputs from agencies

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