Rishi Sunak has said he started listening to his Christmas music playlist two weeks back. However, the reaction from friends and family has led him to enjoy the tunes privately.
The prime minister, known for his fondness for Michael Bublé’s Christmas tracks and often listening to them during late work hours, shared his excitement for the holiday season while on his way to the Cop28 summit in Dubai, The Guardian reported.
He said, “I had the Christmas music on about two weeks ago, and everyone shouted at me, and [since] then I’ve done it in private … now I can do that in public.”
Sunak made this revelation when prompted by a question concerning the death of Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan on Thursday (30).
Despite not seeming to be a devoted Pogues fan, he expressed his admiration for “Fairytale of New York,” the renowned Christmas classic by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
Sunak said, “It’s on every Christmas playlist, is that song, so great loss, great loss.”
When informed by certain reporters that it was very early to begin playing Christmas songs, the prime minister said, “Come on, we did the Christmas market in Downing Street today! It’s fine, it’s all very good, it’s all very good.”
Sunak also mentioned recently spending late nights, signing Christmas cards and utilising that time for relaxation.
“I put the Christmas music on and I just sit there and sign away, and I’ve been doing that for about 10 days already,” he said.
After signing “thousands” of cards last year, in his initial year as prime minister during Christmas, Sunak revealed that he called his mum and thanked her for giving him a short name.
“Thank God, you named me a name that only has five letters in it. If it was a 10-letter thing this would probably have taken twice as long.”
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