Meet The Sun’s Cabinet of readers who’ll cut through the election noise with real-world experience
You will be able to follow them as they grill our political leaders in the coming months
LATER this year we will be going to the polls once again.
But after years of turmoil and upheaval, we have never been more fed up with the state of politics.
Big questions remain, however, on who is best placed to really fix the country.
It is time for Britain to decide — and it is time for politics in plain English.
As politicians waffle, we want to listen to those who really run the country.
So I have convened my own Cabinet of Sun readers — with me as the PM.
Grill our leaders
Not out-of-touch Westminster elites. But real people, with real-world experience.
Like much of the country, they are not currently keen on ANY of our politicians.
Across The Sun newspaper, website, social media channels and YouTube, you will be able to follow them as they grill our leaders in the coming months.
We will look at what you really want from the next Government and who, if anyone, can win their vote.
This year is going to be a huge year in politics, starting with next week’s Budget.
So I’m delighted to introduce you to the Sun Cabinet . . .
MANESH VEKARIA, SELF-EMPLOYED PLUMBER
BUSINESS SECRETARY
DAD-of-two Manesh started his own plumbing and heating business in Harrow, North West London, just before the pandemic.
As a new business, he got no government help, but through hard work he has since grown his firm so that he now has work for six plumbers.
The 37-year-old says: “I’m not one of those people who is happy just being employed, I want more.
“I’m happy to work 24 hours, seven days a week. There is loads of business out there if you are prepared to work.
Rishi Sunak has not really helped businesses
Manesh Vekaria
“We incorporated right at the beginning of Covid. I didn’t expect any help at all. I understand why.
“Luckily, we had secured some large jobs and that got us through.
“Rishi Sunak has not really helped businesses. When he was Chancellor he put up corporation tax so, for me, that was a great failing by him.
“And Keir Starmer hasn’t been around enough to inspire confidence. I don’t know who I would vote for.”
DR BHASHA MUKHERJEE, NHS DOCTOR AND TRAINEE GP
HEALTH SECRETARY
FORMER Miss England Bhasha began work as a junior doctor six months before Covid struck and is now halfway through training in London to be a GP.
Bhasha, 28, from Derby, says: “I love my job and I am very passionate about the health service. We are still in the aftermath of Covid, coping with the backlog of it all.
“If I was Health Secretary I would increase the budget for primary care to at least 25 per cent of the total health pot.
“We are only at eight per cent, even though GPs look after 300million appointments in a year.
You have to see where the wastage is happening and limit it
Dr Bhasha Mukherjee
“I am a big believer in keeping people well in the community to prevent them from needing to go into hospital.
“More and more money has gone into the system and the outcomes have not necessarily matched up to it.
“We need to change the approach of not just putting in more money. If you fill the bath, you have to close the plughole.
“You have to see where the wastage is happening and limit it.”
HUGH ANDREE, EX-ARMY CAPTAIN WHO NOW HELPS VETERANS
FOREIGN & DEFENCE SECRETARY
IN his Army days, Hugh served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.
Since then the 50-year-old father of two from Battersea, South West London, has helped 4,000 veterans into work as co-founder and CEO of ForceSelect, set up with General Sir Mike Jackson and ex-SAS man Andy McNab.
Hugh says: “My first policy on defence would be to increase spending on kit equipment and manpower. We are meant to spend 2.2 per cent of GDP.
“I would take money from other departments to increase our capability.
“There are now more employees of McDonald’s in the UK than in the Army. McDonald’s has 120,000 members of staff and we have 72,000 members in the Army.
My first policy on defence would be to increase spending on kit equipment and manpower
Hugh Andree
“The whole British Army could not even fill the stadium at Twickenham.
“Next, I would change the narrative around veterans. Veterans are an asset, not victims. Only six per cent of them have issues.
“Start looking after veterans and young people might just want to join the Armed Forces.”
GRANT DAVIS, BLACK CAB DRIVER
Transport & Energy Secretary
FATHER-of-two Grant is chairman of the association that represents London’s 15,000 cabbies.
The 60-year-old, from Bromley, South East London, says: “I have 35 years of being in the cab listening to passengers. I have grasped what they are telling me. It is what a politician should do. Listen.
“I’ve never had so many people who now feel so disillusioned at the state of the country and where we are going.
“Do those people in the back of the cab feel that it will get better under Labour? No.
The motorist is being clobbered and milked like a cash cow
Grant Davis
“Loads of people say they feel politically homeless. They say both parties are as bad as each other.
“As Energy Secretary I would scrap net zero, and if they want people to buy electric cars, then bigger subsidies are needed.
“The motorist is being clobbered and milked like a cash cow.
“We have Ulez, congestion charging, expensive parking all over the country. We need to open up the roads, not shut them.”
CARRIE ANN BOOTH, FORMER SCIENCE TEACHER
Education Secretary
FORMER state school teacher Carrie Ann knows education inside and out, having taught science for nearly two decades.
The 42-year-old, from Carlisle, Cumbria, who has a daughter, Roxy, eight, at primary school, left last October to set up her own business The Science Booth.
She says: “I think 18 years in education is not a bad innings considering most teachers are lucky to make it to five.
“For over a decade state schools have been underfunded. We have teachers buying resources from their own wages, things like glue sticks and paper.
I feel Rishi Sunak is out of touch with the British public
Carrie Ann Booth
“You cannot teach children effectively when you have 35 kids in a classroom, it just doesn’t work.
“If I was Education Secretary my number one priority would be funding state education to make sure we have a level playing field for all children.
“I feel Rishi Sunak is out of touch with the British public and Keir Starmer is a beige poster boy. I would prefer someone with a bit more fire in his belly.”
JONATHAN TAYLOR, FORMER DETECTIVE
Home Secretary
IN a 30-year career Jonathan worked for the Met’s Special Branch in London and then as an undercover detective nailing paedophiles.
The 63-year-old, from Taunton, Somerset – who has three daughters working in teaching, the police and the Army – now helps children stay safe online.
He says: “As Home Secretary my priority would be beating anti-social behaviour.
“Everybody talks about having more bobbies on the beat but they were saying that when I was a young bobby. It doesn’t materialise.
We need to look at police recruitment and retention
Jonathan Taylor
There is not a bottomless pit of money. But if the money is not there, something is going to break.
“You now have the police force, which is basically broken.
“We need to look at police recruitment and retention. Many officers are leaving within two to ten years.
“The fact we have had three Prime Ministers in such a short time is why I find politics very confusing at the moment.”
MADDY ALEXANDER-GROUT, BUDGETING COACH
Chancellor of the Exchequer
MADDY, 40, from Southampton, who is married to kitchen gardener James, 42, and is mum to Ben, eight, and Harriet, five, helps families make their money go further through her Mad About Money app.
She says: “For many people budgeting is a really scary word. It is almost taboo.
“Speaking about money helps people understand it better, manage it better and create wealth.
“If I was Chancellor, my number one priority would be the cost of living.
“It has got to a point where every single area of people’s lives is being massively impacted, down to mobile phone bills, gas and electric and food shopping.
“So many people are struggling at the moment.
If I was Chancellor, my number one priority would be the cost of living
Maddy Alexander-Grout
“I would want to give more money to the NHS.
“It is something we massively take for granted.
“They are understaffed, undervalued and they need more money.”