Rishi Sunak and Tony Blair bumped into each other this week – and you won’t guess where the meet cute happened.
The two former prime ministers were spotted having a friendly exchange in New York while walking in Fifth Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, on Monday.
The pair were snapped by Jeff Clarke, 61, who was in New York on holiday with his family.
He said he spotted the pair outside of Trump Tower while he was walking from Central Park to the Rockefeller Centre in the city.
‘I noticed someone familiar,’ Jeff said. ‘It turned out it was Rishi Sunak.’
Sign up to Metro’s politics newsletter, Alright Gov?
Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.
Jeff, who is from Liverpool, admits he didn’t ‘immediately recognise’ the former Labour leader.
‘They did seem very pleased to see each other. We overheard Tony say to Rishi “It’s good to see you again. I’m glad everything’s going well”.’
The holidaymaker said it felt like ‘déjà vu’ seeing the two together.
Though a chance encounter, it is not a coincidence that Sunak and Blair are in the same place at the same time.
Many former world leaders have descended on the city for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The session opened on the September 9 2025 and will last until September 8 2026. Over the past week, heads of government have addressed the General Assembly in the annual General Debate.
The General Debate begun on September 23 and closes on September 29. The theme of this year’s discussion is ‘Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.’
Jeff noted New York is ‘crazy at the moment’ due to the global event.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
