Rishi Sunak donated $3 million to US college for computer lab

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak taking part in media interviews during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit at Mimi Castle in Bulboaca near Chisinau, Moldova. The semiannual summit was created last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the aim of bringing together a broader set of European leaders beyond the 27 members of the European Union. Picture date: Thursday June 1, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Europe. Photo credit should read: Carl Court/PA Wire

The donation paid for a computer lab at Claremont McKenna in California, where Akshata Murtym, the Prime Minister’s wife, studied as an undergraduate, with fees costing in excess of $80,000 a year.

The facility was named the “Murty Sunak Quantitative and Computing Lab” following their donation, according to the Mirror.

The donation was given in 2018, three years after Mr Sunak became the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire.

Leyburn Primary School in Mr Sunak’s constituency recently has had to run a family fun day in order to afford computers for the children.

The Parents, Teachers and Friends Association managed to raise £5,000 for nine new computers but is some £10,000 short of being able to afford enough for every pupil in the class to use at the same time.

Mel Wise, chair of the PTFA, said: “It’s a joke. Like Whitney Houston would say, the children are our future. Why are we not investing in them more?”

Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary said: “Tories are failing a generation of children, after 13 years of investing less in education than the last Labour government.

“Parents are being asked to contribute more and more to core school costs even as their own incomes shrink and costs soar.

“Meanwhile private schools in Britain and America are getting handouts from our out-of-touch Prime Minister’s own pocket. It is absolutely staggering.”

A Government source said: “The PM and his wife give money to a wide range of philanthropic causes and charities.”

Daniel Callaghan, who is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mr Sunak’s seat at the next election, told The Yorkshire Post: “While every single school across his own constituency struggles to make ends meet because of years of Tory underfunding, Rishi Sunak is handing millions of pounds to a private school in California.

“You couldn’t make it up. This man is out of touch and needs to go. We deserve better.”

Green Party Cllr. Kevin Foster who represents Hipswell & Colburn on the North Yorkshire Council says, “It’s clear that wherever Rishi Sunak’s loyalties lie they are not with the people and families here in his North Yorkshire constituency. This is why people should vote for a local candidate to be their MP, who they know will always put their interests first.”