Rishi Sunak is really, really rich. Will it hurt his electoral chances? | Zoe Williams

Heating his personal pool during a cost of living crisis? Donating millions to elite schools? The PM is banking on us filing this all apathetically under stuff rich people do'

To kick off the Conservative conference, Laura Kuenssberg gave Rishi Sunak a first look, on air, at a word cloud of responses from the public to the question: What does Rishi Sunak stand for?" If you were building a reputation as a supervillain, the words looked great, but what about a prime minister? Unprecedented? Disastrous? The Rich", Rich People", Rich" and People" were four separate categories, by far the most ubiquitous; only Money" and Himself" came close. A few people knew he was a Conservative. There was an honourable mention of wealth", which is a little more courteous than rich", in so far as it's not something you are, it's something you have. Either way, one thing has cut through about the prime minister: he is really rich.

It did come up, when he first took office a year ago, that his immense riches might pose a problem for him, just in the day-to-day stuff. Traditionally, people like their politicians to know the price of milk and how to pour a pint. This was always quite an easy fix for our esteemed public servants, who could learn these details ahead of a leadership bid.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist