Rishi Sunak's Southampton childhood described in Lord Ashcroft biography

Going For Broke: The Rise of Rishi Sunak, by Michael Ashcroft, quotes neighbours and friends who knew the future chancellor as a boy with "lovely manners" whose hero was the Saints' Matt Le Tissier. 

Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton General Hospital on May 12, 1980. His mother Usha worked as manager of Weston Pharmacy at the time, while father Yashvir was a GP whose surgery was on Raymond Road, Shirley.

The family lived at Richmond Gardens in Portswood but moved to a six-bedroomed home at Spindlewood Close, Bassett, after the birth of their second son Sanjay and daughter Raakhi.

Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative party chairman, writes: “People on Spindlewood Close still remember the small boy with jet-black hair, a ready smile and lovely manners who used to wheel around on a bike with the other kids or kick a ball about with his little brother Sanjay.”

Rishi Sunak's parents Yashvir and Usha at Kuti's Brasserie with Usha's father Raghubir Berry

Neighbour Janet Parnell recalls: “The whole Sunak family, including the children, were very friendly, very personable."

Rishi Sunak went to the Southampton prep school Oakmount until it closed in 1989, then to Stroud School. Fellow Stroud pupil Ollie Case, who went on to be a teacher there, says: “He was someone that was talked about. The teachers would say, ‘He’s going to be a Prime Minister’.”

The book says young Rishi captained the Stroud cricket team and took part in football, hockey and athletics. He was head boy in his final year.

The Sunak family celebrated special occasions at Kuti’s Brasserie in the city and would dine there every Christmas Eve.

Dr Sunak had a season ticket to watch Southampton FC and the future chancellor’s childhood hero was Matt Le Tissier.

Rishi became a boarder at Winchester College, where “it seems the naughtiest thing Sunak ever did … was to smuggle a hand-held television into the school so that he did not miss any key games of Euro ’96”.

For his 18th birthday, he received a card signed by the Southampton football squad, which became “one of his most prized possessions”.

“Southampton would always be home, and this would always be his team,” Lord Ashcroft writes.

Rishi Sunak visiting the Port of Southampton as chief secretary to the treasury in February this year, with Alastair Welch (left) and Julian Walker of ABP

Rishi Sunak went to Oxford University and received a masters in business administration at Stanford University in the US. He became wealthy as hedge fund manager and married Akshata Murthy, the daughter of an Indian billionaire, before becoming MP for Richmond in Yorkshire in 2015.

The book credits his parents with inspiring Rishi Sunak to get involved in politics, quoting him as saying: “People would always stop and talk to me about my mum and dad, saying ‘Oh, you’re Mrs Sunak’s son, Dr Sunak’s son.’ And then they’d have some story about how my parents had helped them, or their parents, or children, and I thought that was amazing.

“They had done the same job in the same place, a mile from each other, for 30 years, and it was pretty clear that they as individuals were able to have an amazing impact on the community around us, and that I found pretty inspiring.”

Going For Broke, by Michael Ashcroft, is published by Biteback and costs £20.