By Arthur Greene
Rishi Sunak has hit the headlines across the world for being the first UK prime minister who isn’t white.
But there’s also been a lot of talk about his height.
Look around and you’ll see that many of the most powerful male world leaders are well below average height.
Two men who don’t see eye-to-eye, despite being the exact same height, are Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodimir Zelensky. Both men, like Sunak coincidentally, stand at around 170cm.
They are joined by Germany’s Olaf Scholz who stands at level height, while France’s Emmanuel Macron towers over them at 173cm.
As journalist Tom Gara has already noted, “It’s an unprecedented consolidation of European power in the hands of short kings”.
And what of Africa?
Well, at a reported 178cm Cyril Ramaphosa looks positively gigantic next Rishi and co. According to some records, Nelson Mandela stood at 193cm at his peak.
But the continent has had its fair share of short rulers.
Haile Selassie, former emperor of Ethiopia, stood at just 157cm, and here in South Africa Thabo Mbeki reportedly stands at a mere 165cm tall.
However, the short king that all these gents pale in comparison to is one by the name of Kim Jong-un. The despotic leader of the rogue nation North Korea stands just short of 163cm.
So a word of advice if Rishi ever did want to pull off any camera trickery to add a few inches: forget the stairs, organise a trip to North Korea.
Pictured above: Rishi Sunak, 170cm, stands slightly below a stooping Boris Johnson, 175cm Source: @Indian_Bronson
