Rishi Sunak: Britain has moved on from judging people for being rich

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak has said he is “not bothered” by Labour’s criticism of his wealthy family’s tax arrangements and thinks the UK has “moved beyond” judging people on their money, as a new estimate said the UK prime minister’s fortune had fallen to around £500m.

Sunak, who is the wealthiest British prime minister ever on account of his wife’s shareholdings, said he did not pay attention to Labour’s personal attacks on his finances.

The new Sunday Times rich list estimated his family’s wealth had dropped by £200m in the past year because of a fall in the price of his wife’s shareholding.

It said Sunak, a former hedge fund manager, and his wife, Akshata Murty, had an estimated worth of about £529m, a fall from £730m in 2022.

Murty owns a small stake in Infosys, a $64bn (£52bn) Indian IT firm co-founded by her billionaire father. The value of that stake has fallen, driving the drop in the couple’s fortunes.

However, Sunak said people were not bothered by his wealth when reporters asked him if he gets upset by personal attacks on his family, such as Keir Starmer criticising him at prime minister’s questions for his wife’s non-dom tax status.

Labour has also accused Sunak of being out of touch with ordinary people because of his family wealth. One attack advert asks: “Do you think it’s right to raise taxes for working people when your family has benefited from a tax loophole? Rishi Sunak does.”

Speaking on the plane to the G7 summit in Japan, Sunak 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