Rishi Sunak’s hopes of becoming prime minister are over, say top Tories
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.”
On Friday it also emerged that the chancellor and Murty had both held US green cards, meaning they had registered themselves as permanent residents in the US. In a development that shocked many Tories, it was confirmed that Sunak held the green card for a period of 19 months when he was chancellor and in charge of UK finances. The issue was even raised at a White House briefing on Friday evening.
A former Tory cabinet minister said Sunak was clearly damaged and would not stand any chance in a leadership contest if one was held in the coming months. The way he had
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