I’m a massive fan of Christmas music, Sunak says

The Prime Minister said he has been listening to festive tunes since mid-November.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, at the switching on of the Downing Street Christmas tree lights in London (Eddie Mulholland/DailyTelegraph/PA) (PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak has confessed to being a “massive fan” of Christmas music, having listened to it for weeks already while writing “thousands” of Christmas cards.

The Prime Minister, who switched on the lights of the Downing Street Christmas tree this week, said he has been listening to festive tunes since mid-November.

Speaking to reporters travelling with him to Dubai for the Cop28 climate summit, Mr Sunak said: “I am a massive fan of Christmas music.”

I called my mum last year when I did it and I said, 'Thank God you named me a name that only has five letters in it.'

Rishi Sunak

He recounted being “outed” on his passion when he was chancellor when a journalist walked in on him singing Michael Buble before an interview.

“I had the Christmas music on about two weeks ago, and everyone shouted at me,” the Tory leader joked.

“I do a lot of Christmas card signing in this job,” he said, “so I sign all these cards and I do it in the night, and basically that is my time, 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.”

Asked how many he signs, he replied “thousands”.

“I called my mum last year when I did it and I said, ‘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.”

Mr Sunak said the death of The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan was “a great loss”, as his festive song Fairytale Of New York is “on every Christmas playlist” he has listened to over the years.