The Rish list
£730million Sunak is first major politician to appear on roll call of Britain’s wealthiest people
INFLATION is at 9 per cent (and rising), but there’s another figure that could cause PR problems for Rishi Sunak: £730million.
The Chancellor makes history this year as the first front-line politician on the Sunday Times Rich List.
Mr Sunak and his heiress wife Akshata Murty are estimated to be worth £730million – putting them 222nd in the annual league table of Britain’s wealthiest people. The majority of their £730million comes from Miss Murty’s £690million stake in IT firm Infosys, founded by her father.
Amid the cost of living crisis, Mr Sunak had already faced awkward questions over his family’s financial arrangements when it emerged his wife held ‘non-dom’ status, which allowed her to avoid paying UK tax on foreign earnings. Miss Murty confirmed last month that she would give up the status, for which she had paid an annual £30,000 fee.
Mr Sunak, receives a government salary of £151,649 but was previously thought to be worth around £200million – enough to make him Britain’s richest sitting MP.
News of his placement on the Rich List emerged yesterday, hours after the Chancellor had warned Britons that ‘the next few months will be tough’ as household bills continue to rise.
‘It’s particularly striking that Rishi Sunak is the first politician to make the list,’ said Robert Palmer of campaign group Tax Justice UK. ‘He had the power to ease the cost of living, but has done far too little. It is way past time for the Chancellor to act.’
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab defended his Cabinet colleague, telling Times Radio: ‘I think it’s fantastic that you’ve got someone of British-Indian origin showing all people in our country that you can get to the top of politics. ’
Miss Murty is currently living in the couple’s £7million home in Kensington, having moved out of Downing Street following the furore over her non-dom status.
The couple also own a California penthouse worth £5.5million, as well as a £2million manor in Mr Sunak’s Yorkshire constituency where they plan to spend £250,000 building a swimming pool.
Sri and Gopi Hinduja top the Rich List – which measures wealth in publicly quoted companies and property, but not bank accounts – for a fourth time. The brothers’ Mumbai-based conglomerate has earned them a £28.5billion fortune, leaving British inventor Sir James Dyson in second with £23billion. The sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich fell 20 places to 28th, although he is still worth at least £6billion.
According to the list, Anders Holch Povlsen, who owns fashion retailer Asos, is Scotland’s richest man. He increased his fortune by £500million to £6.5billion.
Author JK Rowling missed out on being in Scotland’s top ten, coming in 12th place with an estimated £870million.
Brothers Sandy and James Easedale were new entrants to the billionaire list, with an estimated worth of £1.3billion. The former Rangers directors built their wealth through property acquisitions and transport.
But Clyde Blowers owner Jim McColl lost his billionaire status.
Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: ‘Scotland’s richest people have fared less well than those elsewhere in the UK, with half of this year’s ten Scottish billionaires seeing their fortunes fall.’
▪ Mr Sunak was urged yesterday to scrap plans for a Treasurybacked non-fungible token (NFT).
The Chancellor has instructed the Royal Mint to create an NFT, but experts warn that the webbased assets – often sold for thousands and, in some cases, millions – are on the verge of collapsing in value just like digital currencies Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Labour Treasury spokesman Tulip Siddiq said the ‘desperate’ Chancellor ‘is wasting time and money on a gimmick’.