Rishi has finally found a way to look normal: Drink as much tea as possible

During his short time as Prime Minister, various things have been declared Rishi Sunak’s “secret weapon” in winning over the country. The list includes, but is not limited to: his wife, Akshata Murty; his “extreme 36-hour fasting” regime; his sheer dullness; stealth taxes; fiscal drag; and Lee Anderson MP. Anderson has since defected to Reform UK.

But amid all that wishful thinking, not once has it been pointed out that Sunak has clearly found a subtle (or at least, aiming for subtle) accessory he feels the British people are powerless to resist finding charmingly relatable: special advisor to the nation, the oh-so-humble mug of tea.

On Tuesday, Number 10 released two images of Sunak with brew in hand, ramming home just how normal a bloke he is. “Perfect way to start the day. Happy St George’s Day!” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), above a photo of him reading a folder in his office, one hand on a mug bearing the St George’s flag.

Was it empty? Did it in fact conceal his derided £200 Ember Travel Mug behind? Did he take it from a cabinet containing a mug version of every flag of the world, just for these PR moments? The cynics had questions.

But there was no time for answers, because the Prime Minister was already on his next mug. Only a few hours later, a photograph was released showing Sunak surrounded by a huddle of journalists on a flight to Warsaw. In his hand? A mug with “10” written on it, lest he forget his principal address. In fairness, he has at least four homes.

Once you see it, as the kids say, you cannot unsee it. There is Sunak cheersing with Joe Biden, each holding a Downing Street mug. There is Sunak “hailing [an] innovative tea service” on a railway in Yorkshire. There is Murty, delivering a tray of tea to reporters waiting outside their Kensington mews home in 2022.

And there is how it all started, just prior to Budget Day in 2020, when Sunak posed next to a bag of Yorkshire Tea literally larger than his torso. He posted the image on X with the caption: “Quick Budget prep break making tea for the team. Nothing like a good Yorkshire brew.” After much criticism, the company then had to issue a statement denying they had endorsed the association.

Politicians are limited when it comes to props that engender instant relatability. Removing a jacket and tie is one shortcut men can take to appear informal, but if said jacket is made by Savile Row’s Henry Herbert, as Sunak’s occasionally are, the public won’t buy the trick.

A pint of beer can help. Harold Wilson certainly thought so, appearing with one wherever possible. David Cameron did the same, especially on holiday in Cornwall. But Sunak doesn’t drink, so even his communications team wouldn’t be so foolish as to send out a photo of him leaning against the bar in the Dog and Duck, Doom Bar in hand, with the caption: “Nothing like a frothing pint of alcohol to unwind with at the end of a long day, eh fellas? Cheers, Rishi.”

For this teetotaller, then, it’s total tea all the time. Per guidelines issued by the Speaker, only water is permitted to be consumed in the House of Commons (though historically the Chancellor could drink alcohol during the Budget), but you can bet Sunak has asked if he’d be allowed a brew at PMQs.

If it’s from any predecessor’s playbook, it’s Sir Tony Blair’s. The original PR prime minister, Blair almost always had a mug in his hand if he could. Somebody – likely Alastair Campbell – clearly felt it sent the right messages. It’s not something you can focus group, though Bill Clinton, from whom New Labour took so much inspiration, did once try.

In his book Behind the Oval Office, former Clinton advisor Dick Morris remembers “present[ing] the strategy group with a list of approved presidential activities for his coming vacation: golf, hiking, camping and so on. The advice was the ultimate in carrying polling to a mindless extreme,” Morris writes.

“It’s hard to focus group specifics when building a politician’s image, so the mug won’t have been tested,” says James Frayne, a former government department director of communications and now a founding partner of opinion research agency Public First.

“Perfectly likely is that one of his aides with a background in TV or social media will have said: ‘You have to hold something for the pictures, and a mug of tea ticks all the image boxes.’ Not only does it make pictures look more interesting, it subtly addresses some of the negatives you hear from voters: that he’s mega rich, doesn’t try hard enough.

“After all, tea is an everyman’s drink, and it’s one of the few drinks that makes it look like you’re working harder, not slacking – such is the obvious connection to labouring.”

If anything, Blair has more tea-sipping images out there than Sunak – but then his premiership was a lot longer. In 2000, after the birth of his fourth child, he popped out of Number 10 to chat to reporters in a blue button-down, while holding a mug imprinted with an image of his three older children.

As if having a fourth child while in office wasn’t enough of a “Family Man” move, here was a literal symbol of his love for his children. And people dare to say Campbell’s influence was overstated…

The king of the heavy-handed metaphor, Boris Johnson wasn’t unaware of the power of tea, either. Brexit mugs, NHS mugs, Union Jack flag mugs – he’s slurped from them all.

In 2018, under siege from reporters demanding to know if he’d apologise for comparing Muslim women wearing the burka to letterboxes and bank robbers, he emerged from his Oxfordshire home with a tray of tea for his visitors.

The ramshackle collection of mugs, pairing Johnsonianly with the ramshackle collection of clothes he’d hurled at his body before facing the public, included a free Cadbury’s Mini Eggs one. When Murty tried the same trick four years later, it was noted that her crockery was from designer Emma Lacey, and £38 per mug. It’s a very Sunak problem.

“For Rishi, drinking a mug of tea is also the safe choice. In recent times he’s been mocked for his expensive shoes, his tight suits and now his [Adidas Samba] trainer choice. The mug of tea is as inoffensive as it gets, although no doubt there’ll be questions raised over whether it’s really Yorkshire Tea or whether actually it’s some outrageously expensive stuff you only get at the Savoy Hotel…” Frayne says.

Authenticity, then, is the key to tea. When Margaret Thatcher posed with a bone china cup and saucer, it seemed believable that’s what she was used to. When Johnson slopped around a mug like Wallace and Gromit, looking as if he was about to accidentally smash it against his own head at any moment, he was showing us his true self. And when Blair wandered around, the cool and chillaxed dad that he was, with a naff personalised family photo on his mug, we bought it.

With Sunak, the jury’s very much out. Lagging in the polls now, perhaps he could try taking a leaf from John Prescott’s book. Or, specifically, Blair’s memoir, A Journey. In it, Blair recalls (the then) Prince Charles being baffled by Prescott’s tendency to “slide down the seat with his legs apart, his crotch pointing a little menacingly, and balance his teacup and saucer on his tummy”.

The future King said to Blair: “It’s very odd. I’ve never seen someone do that before. What do you think it means?” Blair said he didn’t think it meant anything. “You don’t think it’s a sort of gesture or sign of hostility or class enmity or something?” Charles pleaded.

“No,” Blair replied, “I think he just likes drinking his tea that way.”

It could become Sunak’s secret weapon.