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Rishi Sunak’s wife is NOT elected OR in a public role but she is a woman

903 replies

BigGreenSpacehopper · 08/04/2022 09:05

Have you noticed that Zac Goldsmith (elected), Mark Carney (role of significance to all of us as Govenor of the Bank of England), 4th Viscount Rothmere (controlling shareholder and Chair of the Daily Mail) all have non Dom status but no mention is really made. However, a woman, who has no public role, has never said anything public, is being criticised for her non Dom status?

And yes she’s getting massive dividends but I imagine as it’s family money there is a massive pre-nup in place so it’s not like Rishi will be able to run off with it!

OP posts:
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girlmom21 · 08/04/2022 09:24

None of the men you've mentioned have spouses who are increasing taxes for everyone else.

HRTQueen · 08/04/2022 09:25

Why is it racist to feel that the wife of the man who controls our finances is wrong in choosing to avoid paying tax.

It might be legal but not everyone will use this loophole and she resides in the UK

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 08/04/2022 09:25

Akshata Murty. She has a name.

Don't join in the political game by refusing to know it and use it.

scaevola · 08/04/2022 09:25

@Sartre

Difference is she’s married to the chancellor, a chancellor who has raised NI and forced people into a situation where they either pay to stay warm or pay to eat. In 21st century Britain. So yeah, her being a seedy fuck is going to come into question and has nothing to do with her being a woman.
Does this mean that spouses do not have independent agency?

And that there is a body of opinion that would like to return to the 1970s and have the lower earning spouse's income taxed as addition to higher earners?

I know this is more about judgement of a household containing a very senior policy maker. But the other part of it is whether married women should be running their own finances, without need to inform/consult a husband

Patchbatch · 08/04/2022 09:26

@JaniieJones

I'm not sure what folk are so riled about. She pays tax in this country on her uk income, she pays tax in India on her income there.

The fact they are rich is irrelevant, I can understand people are jealous but it all reeks of racism and misogyny and the fact is it's all legal.

Sunak has had to make tough financial decisions because we've just paid lots of people's wages in furlough for 2yrs. It's got to be repaid somehow. Do we think Mrs Sunak is responsible for the costs of the pandemic?

Jealousy...racism...misogyny bore off. Yes he has had to make tough decisions, because he made shit decisions during the pandemic. Globally the cost of living has rocketed, here even more so when we already had many people struggling- if you can't see why people find it distasteful without throwing emotive words out there then perhaps try and pop yourself in someone else's shoes.
Silverclocks · 08/04/2022 09:27

It's not about his wife's individual tax position. It's about the fact that he presides over a system that allows his family to benefit so much whilst increasing taxes for other people.

Bunnyfuller · 08/04/2022 09:27

It’s not because she’s female. It’s because she is married to the man who is quite happy to plunge millions into poverty with no curbs on energy prices, fuel prices and inflation, whilst his wife (and him) avoid paying tax.

I couldn’t give 2 fucks what sex she is, I’m sat here working, wearing 3 jumpers and a blanket over my legs to try to stay warm, while the Tories not only engineer the number of poor to get bigger, but enable the rich to get richer at the same time.

SleeplessInEngland · 08/04/2022 09:28

@JaniieJones

I'm not sure what folk are so riled about. She pays tax in this country on her uk income, she pays tax in India on her income there.

The fact they are rich is irrelevant, I can understand people are jealous but it all reeks of racism and misogyny and the fact is it's all legal.

Sunak has had to make tough financial decisions because we've just paid lots of people's wages in furlough for 2yrs. It's got to be repaid somehow. Do we think Mrs Sunak is responsible for the costs of the pandemic?

It's legal but it's still terrible optics, and politics is nothing but optics whether Sunak likes it or not.

Of course, some suspect Johnson will be more than happy his chancellor is hated because then he's no longer a leadership threat. Hooray for our screwed-up government, eh?

SleeplessInEngland · 08/04/2022 09:29

@JaniieJones

I'm not sure what folk are so riled about. She pays tax in this country on her uk income, she pays tax in India on her income there.

The fact they are rich is irrelevant, I can understand people are jealous but it all reeks of racism and misogyny and the fact is it's all legal.

Sunak has had to make tough financial decisions because we've just paid lots of people's wages in furlough for 2yrs. It's got to be repaid somehow. Do we think Mrs Sunak is responsible for the costs of the pandemic?

*I'm not sure what folk are so riled about. She pays tax in this country on her uk income, she pays tax in India on her income there.

The fact they are rich is irrelevant, I can understand people are jealous but it all reeks of racism and misogyny and the fact is it's all legal.*

It's legal but it's still terrible optics, and politics is nothing but optics whether Sunak likes it or not.

Of course, Johnson will be more than happy his chancellor is hated because then he's no longer a leadership threat. Hooray for our screwed-up government, eh?

BeforeGodAndAllTheFish · 08/04/2022 09:31

@JaniieJones

I'm not sure what folk are so riled about. She pays tax in this country on her uk income, she pays tax in India on her income there.

The fact they are rich is irrelevant, I can understand people are jealous but it all reeks of racism and misogyny and the fact is it's all legal.

Sunak has had to make tough financial decisions because we've just paid lots of people's wages in furlough for 2yrs. It's got to be repaid somehow. Do we think Mrs Sunak is responsible for the costs of the pandemic?

It should be treated like a war debt. Paid back slowly over a hundred years. Not clawed back by taxing people into poverty.

It was an exceptional circumstance. Treat it that way and pay it slowly.

scaevola · 08/04/2022 09:32

@Silverclocks

It's not about his wife's individual tax position. It's about the fact that he presides over a system that allows his family to benefit so much whilst increasing taxes for other people.
He inherited that situation IYSWIM - he didn't create it.

There were big changes in 2015 (making it harder and/or more expensive to qualify) and further ones since then (last being wef 2018)

Are there further changes in the offing?

Changes17 · 08/04/2022 09:34

Clearly it's legal - it's just bad politics. You'd want to be making sure you were beyond reproach as Chancellor of the Exchequer, wouldn't you? Or as PM...

Is it sexist? I think what is being criticised are much more his decisions than hers.

PermanentTemporary · 08/04/2022 09:34

I would feel the same if it were his husband - ie that I don't really mind.

I feel sorry for her that behaviour that is normal and logical in her own world has just come screeching into the spotlight. I didn't give a crap about the expensive coffee cup, for example. But they should have foreseen this. Perhaps they should even have foreseen that having policies that oil the wheels for the very rich while screwing over the rest of us is not necessarily a good thing.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/04/2022 09:34

I agree, it’s not that she’s a woman but that she’s the chancellors wife. It’s him under fire more than anything. Taxing the British people into poverty while not applying the same moral courtesy to his own personal dealings. It’s disgusting.

Yes, this.

Nobody is criticising 'Akshata Murty' - everybody is criticising 'Chancellor Rishi Sunak's wife'. I mean, he's rich enough himself to not have the faintest idea of what life is like for ordinary people (imagine being in charge of the nation's money and not even knowing how to make a simple payment with a debit card); but her non-dom basis tips it over the edge.

As well as being his wife, you would also expect her - as a long-time resident of the UK - to be subject to her husband's national financial policies, the same as all of the rest of us are.

At the moment, it's like the kid in the class whose parent is the teacher (back when it was allowed), who just so happens to be perpetually head girl/boy, keep winning every one of the class prizes, consistently getting the top marks (even for mediocre work) and never being told off - but times 1,000.

People will judge you for the company you keep and, like it or not, if you're married to a member of the cabinet - or indeed any high-profile public figure - you're expected not to live in such a way as to grossly disregard all the public principles that your spouse adheres to.

It would be the same if you were married to the Archbishop of Canterbury and you ran a swingers' sex dungeon; or even if you were the spouse of Frankie Boyle and you single-handedly resurrected Mary Whitehouse's old organisation to campaign against swearing and offensive content on TV. Except that neither of those two examples have a direct, unavoidable bearing on our daily lives - unlike Rishi Sunak.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 08/04/2022 09:35

There was no post pandemic reason not to instil a windfall tax, that’s just Sunak favouring billion pound profits for companies …hmmm much like his wife’s income

Comedycook · 08/04/2022 09:36

Akshata Murty. She has a name

Don't join in the political game by refusing to know it and use it

Oh give over!

Silverclocks · 08/04/2022 09:37

At the start of the pandemic, I thought Sunak was a dead cert for next PM, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if some of this "stirring" comes from within his own party.

It's still wrong if the Chancellor's family is using a tax haven though.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/04/2022 09:38

I also don't agree that it's sexist. If Rishi were married to a man and he did the same; or indeed if Philip May or Denis Thatcher had acted in direct opposition to their wives' political policies and broken their rules that the rest of us had to follow, they would have faced just as much criticism.

toomuchlaundry · 08/04/2022 09:38

Wouldn’t she have to pay tax on any of this income that she brings into this country?

Collaborate · 08/04/2022 09:43

It's all about a breach of the ministerial code. This states at para 7.3:

On appointment to each new office, Ministers must provide
their Permanent Secretary with a full list in writing of all interests
which might be thought to give rise to a conflict. The list should
also cover interests of the Minister’s spouse or partner and close
family which might be thought to give rise to a conflict.

So you can't say that she's irrrelevant because she's his wife, not him, unless you think there should be no standards in public office (which to be fair if you still support the Tories you must think that already).

You can find it here:assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826920/August-2019-MINISTERIAL-CODE-FINAL-FORMATTED-2.pdf

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 08/04/2022 09:43

@Silverclocks

It's not about his wife's individual tax position. It's about the fact that he presides over a system that allows his family to benefit so much whilst increasing taxes for other people.
He didn't build that system. That was King George III back in 1799. Many governments have had the opportunity to repeal it!

And Akshata Murty pays tax here, including the statutory non dom fees.

And no @Comedycook I won't "give over". Maybe you'd like to start thinking outside the "one party good, one party bad" box!

Havanananana · 08/04/2022 09:44

@BigGreenSpacehopper

Zac Goldsmith is NOT elected. Quite the opposite. He's one of those "unelected" people that the Brexit mob is so keen to banish (except when they are one of Johnson's supporters).

The good citizens of London declined to elect Goldsmith as Mayor and the voters of Richmond Park likewise decided that they no longer wanted him as their MP and voted for the LibDems instead.

So Johnson made his Eton-educated chum a Peer so that he could have a post as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

edwinbear · 08/04/2022 09:45

I don't like the vilification of her at all, she's done nothing illegal - the issue is tax laws permit it and these need to be revisited given the state the economy is in.

What is wrong, is a man as wealthy as he is, with absolutely no concept of the implications of his policies, being in charge of the countries finances. He's the wrong man for the job.

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 08/04/2022 09:47

The list should also cover interests of the Minister’s spouse or partner and close family which might be thought to give rise to a conflict. But he did declare her UK earnings. And that's sort of by the book. He also set up a blind trust to hide his own earnings. THAT is what he should be being looked at for. As that isn't enough for him to abdicate all knowldege of any conflicts of interest.

But no. Focus on the legal business working of his wife - and don't even name the bloody woman! Sunak's wife pshaw!

Iggly · 08/04/2022 09:49

YABU

It’s literally a requirement of being a minister that you declare interests.

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