Rishi Sunak’s children may not call him a ‘Swiftie’, he admits on campaign trail

Rishi Sunak suggested his two daughters Krishna and Anoushka did not think he met the threshold needed to be described as a “Swiftie”.

Mr Sunak is known to have attended one of the pop giant’s concerts on a holiday in California last summer.

At the time, Downing Street did not direct reporters away from describing the Prime Minister as a Swiftie.

But on the campaign trail in Redcar, Mr Sunak was more reticent about applying the moniker to himself.

He told journalists: “My kids would not probably describe me as a Swiftie. I think they would be not OK with that description.

“Their level of fandom is considerably more than mine and I’m not sure I pass the threshold in their eyes.”

Mr Sunak declined to say which Taylor Swift song “best describes (his) current position in the polls” when asked by The Sunday Times.

The Prime Minister replied: “My encyclopaedic knowledge of Taylor Swift is probably not sufficient to deal with that, but what I can tell you is that the only poll that I’m focused on is the one on July 4.

“Has she got a song about July 4? I don’t know, I’ll have to go and check the canon.”

In Redcar, Mr Sunak launched the Conservatives’ campaign battle bus, which was emblazoned with the slogan “clear plan, bold action, secure future”.

A soundtrack of indie and pop from the 2000s and 2010s played while Tory supporters held placards ahead of the Prime Minister’s arrival.

Songs included Mr Brightside by the Killers and Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People, both US bands.

Tory candidates Jill Mortimer and Matt Vickers were present, as was housing minister Jacob Young, who introduced the Prime Minister.

“I love the merch,” Mr Sunak said to Ms Mortimer, who was wearing a navy polo shirt with the party logo which read “Jill Mortimer for Hartlepool”.