Rishi Sunak 'pays £10k for private return helicopter to Tory dinner in Wales'

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, reportedly shelled out more than £10,000 to fly by private helicopter to attend a glitzy Tory dinner in Wales. The multi-millionaire MP paid the sum out of his own pocket for a return flight from Battersea heliport to the Conservative conference in Newtown, Powys, according to reports.

Labour, in response, called him 'out of touch' with voters, with shadow financial secretary James Murray saying Mr Sunak should 'start paying attention to the problem most families face - soaring bills and rising prices'.

The Chancellor and his wife, Akshata Murty, made the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time this week with their joint £730 million fortune. He suffered a major political blow after it emerged last month that his wife was non-domiciled for tax purposes - meaning she had avoided millions of pounds in UK tax.

And last week, as the cost of living crisis worsened with inflation hitting nine per cent in the year to April, Mr Sunak said 'we cannot protect people completely' in a statement which coincided with data from the Office for National Statistics revealing the all-time high figure as measured by the consumer prices index.

Treasury insiders said Mr Sunak, who took part in a Q&A with Tory former leader William Hague ahead of the dinner, travelled by helicopter to save time, reports the Mirror. Less fortunate attendees travelling from London would have had to pay £117 for a return train ticket in standard class, or driven the 400-mile round trip by car.

But shadow financial secretary James Murray said: "Flying to and from Wales for dinner speaks volumes about how out of touch this Chancellor is. If he's that wasteful with his own money, it's no wonder he treats the public finances as