- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
POLITICIANS across the world do not always remain in the middle of talks for hard politics. There are several occasions when their physical features are also widely discussed. Like for example, in the US, it’s been a long time since there was a president with a mustache. Similarly, amid the ongoing race to find the next prime minister of the UK which has now come down to two contenders — Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss — it is the height which is in question.
ALSO READ: It’s down to 2 in UK PM race: Sunak vs Truss
People are often left surprised by the actual heights of politicians rather than how it looks on a television screen. There are also times when the public accuse politicians of making themselves look taller during their campaign shots than what they actually are.
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Recently, Sunak’s height was widely discussed on social media and many found that he is not among the tallest, measuring a modest five-foot-five-inches, lesser than those who held the post of the British premier in the last 100 years.
at 5'6, Rishi Sunak would be the shortest PM of the last 100 years, but they haven't all been particularly tall pic.twitter.com/Db84MFJlSb
— rory (@rorhor) July 18, 2022
Recently, a tweet about the height of Sunak, who has a fair chance of becoming the prime minister, and some of the former prime ministers. It said ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher was six foot tall while Sir Winston Churchill, another towering leader, was five-foot-seven-inches high.
Theresa May, who was the prime minister before the current post-holder Boris Johnson took charge, is five-foot-eight-inches tall, according to the tweet. Harold Wilson, who was the prime minister between 1964 and 1970, was also five foot and eight inches.
The tweet received a wide range of responses. One said Sunak is a leader of Indian-origin and the change of gene during famines caused in times of the Mughal and British rules in India reduced the Indians’ average height.
? he is from indian origin , as i know indians faced consecutive famines under British and Mughals rule which lead to change of our genes
And indians average height was Decreased and still decreasing because of less intake of nutrition food ??— Ajeet? (@AjeetReddy4) July 20, 2022
More people objected to the viewpoint that Thatcher was six feet tall. One said whether one also measured her four-inch thick hair.
Probably including the 4 inches her hair adds on ?
— Bar ☝️? (@BarLFC) July 19, 2022
Well we don’t really know how tall Sunak will prove himself in his politics, but observers of British politics will eagerly pray that he puts an end to the game of musical chairs the process of picking British prime ministers has virtually become with the incumbents’ short.. err brief stints.
