Rishi Sunak becomes first major politician to make it onto Sunday Times Rich List

Rishi Sunak becomes first major politician to make it onto Sunday Times Rich List
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Aden-Jay Wood

By Aden-Jay Wood


Published: 20/05/2022

- 08:06

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 11:21

The list says Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty's have a joint wealth of £730million

Rishi Sunak has become the first major politician to make it onto the Sunday Times Rich List.

Mr Sunak, along with his wife Akshata Murty, entered the rich list for the first time with their joint £730million fortune as Russian billionaires tumbled down this year’s rankings.


He is the first frontline politician to appear in the rankings since it began in 1989.

It comes as the Chancellor and his wife’s finances have come under intense scrutiny in recent months.

File photo dated 09/02/22 of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak alongside his wife Akshata Murthy, as the Chancellor has defended his wife after it emerged she holds the tax-reducing non-domiciled status, as it was reported his allies have accused No 10 of being responsible for the briefings.
Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty
Ian West

Mr Sunak came 222nd on the rich list
Mr Sunak came 222nd on the rich list
Reuters

Last month, it was revealed that Ms Murty had non-dom status, which typically applies to someone who was born overseas and spends much of their time in the UK but still considers another country to be their permanent residence or “domicile”.

It has been estimated Ms Murty’s non-dom status could have saved her £20million in taxes on dividends from her shares in Infosys, an Indian IT company founded by her father.

She later agreed to pay UK taxes on her worldwide income.

Mr Sunak was cleared of breaching the ministerial code by Boris Johnson’s standards adviser after considering the tax affairs.

On Friday morning, the Sunday Times Rich List revealed they featured at 222nd in the list with the joint forecast of £730million driven by Ms Murty’s £690million stake in Infosys.

Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who run the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, jumped to the top of the list after their wealth grew by more than £11billion to £28.47billion.

While entrepreneur Sir James Dyson and his family moved up to second after a £6.7billion increase to £23billion.

Property investors David and Simon Reuben meanwhile were third with £22.26billion, while Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik dropped from top spot to fourth.

One notable absentee from the top of the list is Roman Abramovich.

The former Chelsea owner slid from eighth to 28th in rankings after his finances plummeted from £12.2billion last year to £6billion this year following sanctions, the enforced sale of Chelsea and the sharp fall in his Evraz shares.

The latest ranking of the 250 richest people in Britain also revealed a record 177 billionaires in the UK this year, up from 2021.

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