Rishi Sunak faces Prime Ministers’ curse of quickly greying hair | Politics | News | EUROtoday

While Rishi Sunak remains to be solely the second shortest-serving Prime Minister within the final 60 years, it seems the stress of Britain’s most high-profile job is hitting him tougher than most.

On a go to to Cumbria this morning, Mr Sunak was photographed assembly staff at an engineering agency, touting a brand new £20 million fund to safe the way forward for the UK’s nuclear business.

While feminine politicians usually bemoan the scrutiny of their look, eyebrows have now been raised by the looks of the Prime Ministers.

Photos seem to indicate Mr Sunak battling quickly greying hair, together with his barnet noticeably lighter and whiter than just some months in the past.

Upon being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Boris Johnson in 2020, Mr Sunak had just some stray gray hairs.

Today his neatly combed thatch is roofed with white hairs, whereas his follicles are a lot lighter than the black hair he walked into No. 11 for the primary time with.

Mr Sunak is way from the primary No. 10 occupant to see the lengthy hours and stress have an effect on the tone of their locks.

In 2010, David Cameron was accused of going gray at “a record rate”.

Just three months into the job, political observers accused the coalition chief of growing gray streaks and a bald spot, contrasting together with his thick black hair earlier than profitable the election.

Five years later, Nigel Farage accused Mr Cameron of dying his hair to reverse the ageing course of.

Mr Farage informed a UKIP occasion: “I was very polite and complimented him on his appearance”.

“Any man who can reverse the greying process I’m jealous of.”

A Conservative spokesman declined to touch upon the allegation, although when questioned about his ageing look Mr Cameron joked: “I have had a few grey hairs and I expect that I’ll get a few more, whatever happens”.

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair additionally noticed their hair gray whereas serving as Prime Ministers, although Tony Blair’s ageing occurred over a for much longer 10-year interval.

In 2009, Gordon Brown was described as having “the strain of running the country etched onto his face”.

Stress knowledgeable Professor Cary Cooper warned: “The same thing happened to Tony Blair. Every Prime Minister we have seen in recent times looks tired by the end of it.’

Mr Brown was also forced to deny taking prescription painkillers and pills to help him cope with the job.

Dr Asim Shahmalak, a London hair transplant specialist, warned: “Going grey is an inevitable part of the ageing process but is also linked to high-pressure jobs”.

“Stress and changes in levels of the male hormone testosterone that a job with long hours, high anxiety and lack of sleep can bring, play havoc with hair colour and density.

“When the hair pigment starts to go, usually in your 40s, there’s not much you can do apart from using colouring.

“My advice is not to fight nature and, in any case, salt and pepper hair can look statesmanlike.”

Thankfully for Sir John Major, he spent his whole political profession with gray hair, famously being portrayed as a wholly gray man on the hit satirical present Spitting Image, which means any stress he skilled in No10 was simply disguisable.