Senior Conservatives have written off Rishi Sunak as a potential prime minister – and now believe Boris Johnson will have to remove him as chancellor in his next reshuffle – following the furore over his US green card and his wife’s tax affairs.
One former Tory minister told the Observer that the fear among Conservative MPs with small majorities was that the party was now in a “death spiral” with its two leading figures – the PM and chancellor – both having lost respect among voters.
“The worry is that this is symptomatic of a party in terminal decline and that we are in a death spiral,” said the ex-minister, after Sunak’s multimillionaire wife, Akshata Murty, agreed to pay UK tax on her global fortune, having avoided doing so under rules that apply to people who opt for non-domiciled status.
Referring to the entire controversy and revelations about the couple having had US green cards, the ex-minister added: “That is the concern of colleagues with small majorities.
“He has shown colossal naivety and the way he has arranged his affairs does not suggest he is even committed to the UK, but that he is keeping open the option of a career in finance in the United States.” » | Toby Helm, Political editor | Saturday, April 9, 2022
Rishi Sunak’s stunts and mistakes expose lack of political savvy: The chancellor’s constituents seem forgiving of the non-dom tax affair but it comes after a series of blunders that call his judgment into question »
