Is Rishi Sunak the victim of a ‘political hit job’?
Chancellor convinced leaking of wife’s tax status is part of ‘co-ordinated attack’
A furious Rishi Sunak believes he has fallen victim to a “political hit job” after details of his wife’s tax status were leaked to the media.
Allies of the chancellor, whose rising star has seen him labelled a future party leader, told The Times he believes the disclosure of his millionaire wife’s non-domicile status was a “co-ordinated attack” timed to coincide with a rise in National Insurance contributions.
“He thinks it’s a total smear,” one ally told the paper. “It feels like there’s a full-time briefing operation against him. This is a hit job, a political hit job. Someone is trying to undermine his credibility.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Saved millions
The leak that has so angered Sunak revealed that his wife, Akshata Murty, saved “millions” in tax payments through claiming non-domicile status while living in the UK.
Murty, a fashion designer and shareholder in her father’s multibillion-dollar IT services firm, used her “non-domicile status in order to save on her tax bill while her husband was chancellor”, The Independent revealed.
While the exact sums involved are not known, sources told the paper that “it could have saved her millions of pounds in tax on foreign earnings over several years”.
Claiming non-domicile status is entirely legal and has existed under Conservative and Labour governments. A spokesperson for Murty told the BBC she has paid all of her UK taxes legally. But the leak has “intensified” pressure on the couple, The Times said.
Sunak “was hit by a political backlash over the news”, the Daily Mail said, with critics pointing out that Murty is saving on her tax bill while “living in a taxpayer-funded flat in Downing Street”. She was then “forced to make an embarrassing climbdown” over the claim “her non-dom status was an automatic product of her Indian citizenship”.
The chancellor yesterday came out fighting, telling The Sun: “I’m an elected politician. So I know what I signed up for. It’s different when people are trying to attack you by coming at your family and particularly your wife.
“It’s unpleasant, especially when she hasn’t done anything wrong. Every single penny that she earns in the UK she pays UK taxes on, of course she does. And every penny that she earns internationally, for example in India, she would pay the full taxes on that.”
He added that “it wouldn’t be reasonable or fair to ask her to sever ties with her country because she happens to be married to me”, arguing: “She loves her country. Like I love mine, I would never dream of giving up my British citizenship.”
But despite his bullish response, one minister suggested that the issue could trigger his resignation if a full explanation is not forthcoming.
“I don’t think it’s sustainable. More and more will be revealed about the family’s finances,” the minister told The Times. “I don’t think he has Boris or Blair’s ability to ride out the worst circumstances. His wife is a non-dom billionaire and the questions are only going to get more difficult.”
Media strategy
According to The Times, “Sunak had told only a few people in government about his wife’s tax status”. His “closest advisers were said to be unaware”, while Boris Johnson and his No. 10 team were also blindsided by the news.
A supporter of the chancellor told the paper that they felt increasingly “isolated” among their colleagues and that few Tory MPs had spoken up in Sunak’s defence. Others suggested the leak was a Labour tip-off.
Political news site Guido Fawkes reported that Private Eye “flagged up his [Murty’s] status in March last year”, suggesting that the story had hit Sunak hard because of the “timing and the media context” of the cost of living crisis and tax rises.
The site also stated that Labour had “dropped the non-domiciled wife story to a sympathetic hack for a scoop”, adding: “It is a sign of a re-invigorated Labour media operation, using tried and tested media strategies with the ruthlessness required to win.”
Maggie Pagano, executive editor of Reaction, said the story means Sunak’s “already diminishing returns on becoming prime minister are now sunk to oblivion”. The Guardian added that a non-domiciled spouse who is “richer than the Queen” is certain to be a political problem for the chancellor.
Johnson yesterday sidestepped questions about Sunak’s financial affairs, saying that it is “important in politics if you possibly can to try and keep people’s families out of it”.
But if the attack was a “hit job”, all signs suggest it may have taken out its target.
“The chancellor is entitled to his money,” said The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph, “but that won’t stop his political enemies trying to exploit it.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What Mike Huckabee means for US-Israel relations
In the Spotlight Some observers are worried that the conservative evangelical minister could be a destabilizing influence on an already volatile region
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Airplane food is reportedly getting much worse
Cockroaches and E. coli are among the recent problems encountered in the skies
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 19, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will Donald Trump wreck the Brexit deal?
Today's Big Question President-elect's victory could help UK's reset with the EU, but a free-trade agreement with the US to dodge his threatened tariffs could hinder it
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Tax plans spell trouble in the North Sea
Talking Point Labour’s tax plans are whipping up a storm. Are the worries of opponents justified?
By The Week UK Published
-
Who will replace Rishi Sunak as the next Tory leader?
In Depth Shortlist will be whittled down to two later today
By The Week UK Last updated
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published