People have been left stunned after finding out how tall Rishi Sunak is.
At first glance, Sunak looks like the frontrunner to be the next Tory leader and Britain's next prime minister, but digging down further reveals he's actually in a bit of trouble.
While he's got the most Tory MPs backing his bid for party leadership, Sunak would also need to win a vote from party members to get into 10 Downing Street unless every other candidate drops out.
That's bad news for the former chancellor as recent polling suggests he'd lose to every single candidate still in the running, who is currently lagging at the back of the pack when it comes to MP endorsements.
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His operation may be slick, but Sunak is seen by many who will cast the deciding vote as too close to Boris Johnson's collapsed regime and too responsible for an economy beset by the cost of living crisis.
Recent revelations such as the clip where a younger Sunak claimed he had no working class friends won't have done his image any favour, so unless he can turn around opinions quickly he could end up falling at the final hurdle to Downing Street.
But with plenty of eyes on his campaign, people are realising something interesting... and that's how Sunak is actually much shorter than he makes himself appear.
Some images of all the candidates lined up together show the former chancellor looking slightly taller than the rest but in truth, they have the height advantage over him as he stands 170cm tall (approximately 5ft 5").
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As heights go, that's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of as some very cool and wonderful people are 170cm tall, possibly including the person typing these very words.
Other members of the 170cm club, which we'll dub the lower end of average height and definitely not short, include Tom Cruise and historical figure Napoleon Bonaparte, who as we all know are definitely not famously short.
People don't really mind the height so much, but they are a bit stunned that Sunak seems to have taken great care to hide it with some clever camera trickery in his PR photos.
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"I don’t care about politics at all now but I was fascinated to learn that Rishi Sunak is really a lot shorter than I think we’ve all assumed as a nation," one person tweeted over the revealtion, as another said: "Someone told me Rishi Sunak’s height is 5ft6 and I’m actually confused... I thought he was 6ft!"
Then again, Sunak might be right to try and make himself look taller than he really is, as taller candidates actually do tend to win elections more of the time.
Researchers from the University of Groningen looked into US presidential elections and discovered that the taller candidate won two-thirds of the time, so maybe there is something in his strategy.
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If he did win the Tory leadership and become the UK's next prime minister, Sunak would be the shortest prime minister since Winston Churchill, who stood 168cm tall.
If Sunak is worried about his height that should soften the blow, any Conservative prime minister, especially the one currently being kicked out of office, would love to be compared to Churchill.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Rishi Sunak, UK News, Politics
