THE NEW YORK TIMES: Britain’s new prime minister married into an $800 million stake in Infosys, a company that does not fit neatly into his party’s views on immigration.
LONDON — As Rishi Sunak made his rapid ascent in British politics, campaigning for Brexit and greater immigration controls to preserve jobs for Britons, the company that made his family exceedingly wealthy was becoming a political lightning rod as one of the world’s biggest outsourcing firms.
Infosys, the Indian outsourcing giant founded by Mr. Sunak’s father-in-law, became notorious among both American political parties for helping companies replace their workers with thousands of Indian immigrants or move their positions to the sprawling Infosys complex in Bangalore.
As the company grew to a market value of nearly $80 billion, it also paid record fines and faced repeated accusations that it broke immigration laws and helped companies discriminate against American workers.
At a perilous time in British politics, with markets on edge, his party in turmoil and inflation rising, Mr. Sunak’s financial ties to Infosys blend two volatile political issues: immigration and inequality. Though Mr. Sunak’s family members are no longer company directors, they are major shareholders, and the company’s outsourcing history does not neatly fit with his party’s stance on limiting immigration to protect jobs. And his wife’s $800 million stake in the company is the biggest source of his wealth, which has emerged as an early source of unease at a time when the government appears ready to cut benefits for working-class families and the poor. » | Jane Bradley | Friday, October 28, 2022
Cut benefits for the poor at your peril, Mr. Sunak! Are you going to be the man who makes the “Nasty Party” even nastier? Remember this: Parents who cannot put food on the table for their children and cannot keep them warm in winter are angry parents. If your goal is a “winter of discontent”, the best thing you can do is to cut benefits for those that are really struggling. That should do it! Also, remember the mess that Thatcher got herself into with the pole tax! That should be a salutary lesson for you. Be careful, Mr. Sunak! Caution is the mother of wisdom. Or as one might say in German: Vorsicht ist die Mutter der Weisheit. – © Mark Alexander
