Sunak said people were not bothered by his wealth when reporters asked him if he gets upset by personal attacks on his family…reports Asian Lite News
Rishi Sunak said people were not bothered by his wealth when reporters asked him if he gets upset by personal attacks on his family.
“These things don’t bother me”, PM Rishi Sunak said as he was criticised for his family’s tax arrangements. UK has “moved beyond” judging people on their money, the Indian-origin UK premier said as a new estimate revealed that his fortune had fallen to around £500 million. Sunak is the wealthiest British prime minister ever on account of his wife Akshata Murty’s shareholdings.
The new Sunday Times rich list estimated that his family’s wealth had dropped by £200 million in the past year. Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, had an estimated worth of about £529m, a fall from £730m in 2022, it revealed. Akshata Murty owns a small stake in Infosys.
But Rishi Sunak said people were not bothered by his wealth when reporters asked him if he gets upset by personal attacks on his family. One UK opposition attack advertisement said, “Do you think it’s right to raise taxes for working people when your family has benefited from a tax loophole? Rishi Sunak does.”
Rishi Sunak, however, said, “I haven’t really actually focused on it or seen all of it. The bits at PMQs I probably hear but the rest of it I don’t. These things generally don’t worry me. I don’t think most people sitting at home actually are much bothered about these things either.”
“What they care about is what am I doing for them to make their lives better. As I talked a lot about last summer, I think we’ve moved beyond judging people by what’s in their bank account,” he added.
Akshata Murty was at the centre of a political storm last year after it emerged she had potentially avoided up to £20 million in UK tax by being non-domiciled
“I think in our country, we judge people not by their bank account, we judge them by their character and their actions. And yes, I’m really fortunate to be in the situation I’m in now, but I wasn’t born like this,” Rishi Sunak had earlier said.
Besides, the power couple, who recently visited Japan for G7 Summit kept a low public profile.
Sunak and Murty are always being scrutinised by global media, as well as, Britain’s opposition government and critics over their wealth status.
Murty, who has received a barrage of criticism for her luxurious dresses and handbags, was seen in a £275 bright pink cashmere top from Chinti & Parker and neon green tailored trousers from Me+Em, the Guardian reported.
Later, she was pictured in a £675 sage-coloured dress from Joseph and carried a £375 mini bag from the Edinburgh-based brand Strathberry.
Whereas Sunak appeared in a black suit, crisp white shirts, and primary-coloured ties. The Prada footwear is still there, too.
Sunak’s red socks also caught the attention of the fashion world. The Britan PM, while removing his shoes before dinner with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, as is customary in Japan, was seen in red-colured socks emblazoned with Carp logo–Kishida’s favorite baseball team. The pair of socks in Japan’s market cost around GBP 8, according to The Guardian report.
The Guardian report said that fashion consultant Isabel Spearman is behind Murty’s dressing approach of late. Notably, Michelle Obama also adopted a similar approach.
Asked whether it was hurtful when Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer talked about his family, Sunak said: “These things don’t bother me.”
In recent sessions of Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir has accused the prime minister of being “clueless about life outside his bubble”.
In the run-up to the local elections in England earlier this month, Labour also put out a number of adverts on Twitter attacking Sunak personally.
The most controversial claimed the prime minister did not think adults convicted of child sexual assaults should go to prison.
Sir Keir defended the advert, saying it highlighted the government’s failures on crime, but there was uneasiness about the move among some in Labour.
Another advert criticised Mr Sunak for raising taxes on working people, while his family benefitted from “a tax loophole” – a reference to his wife’s non-dom status.
Last year, it emerged that Mr Sunak’s wife had non-dom status, which allows people living in the UK to avoid paying UK tax on money made abroad. She later said she would start paying UK tax on her overseas earnings.
At the time Sunak, who was then chancellor, described criticism of his wife as “unpleasant smears”, arguing it was unfair to attack a private citizen. He has also previously admitted he found it “very upsetting” when his wife faced criticism over shares she owned in a tech company operating in Russia.
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