Poor little Rish boy

Sunak political stock falls over wife’s taxes

MOVING house, they reckon, is one of the most stressful things one can do.

I tend to agree, having lived a semiitinerant lifestyle in the early part of my career.

So, pity poor Rishi Sunak, who is shifting furniture this weekend.

I’m not entirely sure how useful he’ll be – given that he’s a short bloke (I say this as a short bloke myself, so it’s ok).

Maybe he’ll help pack a side table or two, chest of drawers maybe.

But I can’t see him on the other end of a piano, especially if they’re aiming to shift it upstairs.

Stressful as relocation is, though, it will be the least of his worries this weekend. Pals are saying that, politically, he’s going through a bad time. The worst time, they say – and it’s going to get worse.

Optics

Earlier this week, the Chancellor lashed out at the political storm around him. It was a hit-job, he said. No need to bring my wife into it, he said, I haven’t done anything wrong, he said.

Meh. I kind of agree with the first part. There’s a game going on in Westminster at the moment, trying to work out who has put the hex on Mr Sunak.

To recap, he’s in some political trouble because it has emerged that his wife, Akshata Murty, has, to put it mildly, a convoluted tax set-up

The point being, it’s not a massively good look for the Chancellor’s wife to have been a non-dom when she’s quite clearly living here. In Downing Street. With the Chancellor. But, you know, I guess that’s just optics. Who’s behind it, how did this news leak out, everyone wants to know? Some people are pointing the finger of blame at Number 10.

Mr Sunak has been billed as a future Prime Minister, a serious leadership rival, and this could well be “the machine” taking him out.

There are still some elements in there who are angry with the Chancellor for not backing the PM over Partygate.

But that’s probably not right here. Nor is the rumour that the story was whipped up by Labour, although it has not done them any harm at all. In fact, as it rumbles on, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mr Sunak is an electoral weak spot and a nice target to apply some pressure on.

Open goal, really, a millionaire Chancellor married to a woman who had non-dom status, while the rest of us are skint. Open goal, and gives Labour some purchase in an area where they have been outclassed by the Tories over the past decade.

Even at the height of austerity, the Tories still managed to frame Labour as weak on the economy.

Not this time, not with an easy narrative, and an easy target like this.

Anyway. It was probably neither of them. Just some fine journalism that sparked this whole thing.

But it’s been seized on, naturally, and the level of mud-slinging will step up over the coming weeks. Mr Sunak is not happy, neither is his inner circle, and if he thinks Number 10 is behind the briefings, he’ll continue to lash out.

Nothing to lose now, I suppose, as it looks like the Chancellor’s leadership hopes are over for now.

Isn’t that the Tories all over? There’s already a war raging 1,600 miles away.

Trust them to start another one.