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

[BigGreenSpacehopper]

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!

@Clavinova

Suella isn't even up to the AG gig

I thought Suella Braverman wiped the floor with Wes Streeting on QT a couple of weeks ago - she surprised me.

She's generally acknowledged (including by leading Conservatives) as amongst the most stupid of all the Conservative MPs, and she has some serious competition for the title. Remember ? And she has a frightening lack of understanding of basic constitutional principles.

@SleeplessInEngland

If all Johnson has is knowing a woman is a woman then Labour will be feeling pretty confident about the next election.

Yes, it's not like we ever had any doubt about that. The problem is that so far as he is concerned women are mostly there to shag or, if they are sufficiently compliant/dim, to be appointed to government posts where they can wholeheartedly support him.

Rishi Sunak has asked the PM to refer him to Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests.

Surely it's a bit late in the day to do this either way?

'Indepedent my arse' as Jim Royle would say.

@JC544D

Rishi Sunak has asked the PM to refer him to Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests.

Surely it's a bit late in the day to do this either way?

That will be Sunak trying to make sure that No10 know if he goes down then he is taking them with him.

It remains the case, there is a public interest in how the chancellor and his family benefit from rules he controls. Throughout his time he has voted in ways that benefit the wealthy.

When spending he was apparently unable to put the controls in place to stop substantial waste and dodgy claims, in many cases by friends and acquaintances of the current government members.

No amount of whataboutery or bluster changes either of these issues.

YABU - she’s not ‘resident’ in India is she? She’s living for free in a house paid for with the taxes of ordinary people. People who’s taxes are going up, thanks to her husband, people who are struggling with the cost of living.
So it’s really irrelevant whether or not what’s she’s doing is legal, unless you feel sorry for the billionaires who will struggle to make ends meet if they pay their full taxes??
Morally, they’re in the wrong. And the system needs to change to stop wealthy people like this dodging tax.

This is another example of how out of touch with normal people the Tories are.
We need to stop voting in these people who take the job for power and influence because the £80k ish salary and benefits are pin money to them and start voting for people who’ve actually want to serve for the good of the nation. People who went to normal state schools, who parents have normal jobs, people who might have an idea of what it’s like to worry about things like energy prices soaring, the environment, the NHS that they and their family rely on, whether or not their kids wi be able to afford further education, or a house one day.
People who think earning £80k, with free and subsidised food, travel and housing is actually a pretty sweet deal and don’t feel the need to take £100s of thousands off private companies to pad their income.

If this were any other government Sunak would have had to resign by now. Really struggling to see how he hasn’t broken the ministerial code, but that’s par for the course for the current Tory government. Just last week we’ve had David Warburton MP taking dodgy undeclared loans from a Russian ‘businessman’. There seems to be a deep rot at every level.

@DingleyDel

If this were any other government Sunak would have had to resign by now. Really struggling to see how he hasn’t broken the ministerial code, but that’s par for the course for the current Tory government. Just last week we’ve had David Warburton MP taking dodgy undeclared loans from a Russian ‘businessman’. There seems to be a deep rot at every level.

Where are you seeing that he has broken the code?

I keep hearing he declared everything he had to - have you seen anything that says differently?

Sunaks flounce on trying to prosecuting the leaker and referring himself to the tory lord who found BJ did nothing wrong over a 250k redecoration, is more the actions of a spoilt toddler than a senior government minister.

He is only doing any of this because he got caught out.

I keep hearing he declared everything he had to - have you seen anything that says differently?

He declared to the private cabinet office NOT the public register of members interests.

At the start of a new Parliament MPs have one month in which to make their first registration. After that, MPs must register within 28 days any interest which someone might reasonably consider to influence their actions or words as an MP

His Green Card and his wife's non dom tax status should have been public knowledge as he is responsible for the rules and possible changes on taxation policy - so clear conflict of interest.

I'd have thought that anyone (genuinely) not sure who they might vote for at the next GE would expect this.

He declared to the private cabinet office NOT the public register of members interests.

That is the process

He declared to Sec and the decision is taken by that group of people on whether to publish or not.

It was covered this morning on R4. He followed the process with correct timing.

As for last dig ha at that I am interested in process and if he has followed it.

Fuck following the ‘process’ WHERE is this governments moral backbone??

As for last dig ha at that grin I am interested in process and if he has followed it

Couldn't resist, i thought it was the correct process and no one told me it wasn't! sorry!

Seriously, if he followed all the rules etc then what is all the fuss and why did his wife decide to change where she pays tax?

Sunak can of course make declarations on the register independently of the Cab Office.... as he has done on rental from property and donations.

He has broken the code surely because he didn’t declare his wife’s shares in the register of ministerial interests. I can’t see how he can explain that one. He’s presided over changes that benefit non Dom’s!

@Ahgoonyegirlye

YABU - she’s not ‘resident’ in India is she? She’s living for free in a house paid for with the taxes of ordinary people. People who’s taxes are going up, thanks to her husband, people who are struggling with the cost of living. So it’s really irrelevant whether or not what’s she’s doing is legal, unless you feel sorry for the billionaires who will struggle to make ends meet if they pay their full taxes?? Morally, they’re in the wrong. And the system needs to change to stop wealthy people like this dodging tax.

I'm against what's gone on.

BUT with threads like this, it is worth highlighting that well over half of income tax receipts are from the top 10% of earners (as it should be), and the poorest 50% of the UK contributes under 10 % of income tax (and a very large number of those in this bracket will end up getting back more than paid, via benefits and govt spending on health, infrastructure etc. This can still be an issue when people are financially tight, but it's also not as simple as people think to insist that the wealthy pay more, especially the globally mobile wealthy. Corporation tax probably could and should be raised - but on the other hand, global companies are growing faster, big companies here are being bought by foreign entities and others are already flocking to list in the US as it's more beneficial for founders and investors.

We might well choose to have a society where we are all less rich, but more fair, but there are trade offs to be made, we can't pretend there's a simple solution.

@MarshaBradyo

He declared to the private cabinet office NOT the public register of members interests.

That is the process

He declared to Sec and the decision is taken by that group of people on whether to publish or not.

It was covered this morning on R4. He followed the process with correct timing.

As for last dig ha at that I am interested in process and if he has followed it.

So you are saying that the Chancellor is not clever enough to know that his family living in a taxpayer funded house, but not paying a similar proportion of their income in tax as an average family is not a good look.

We are expected to believe that the Chancellor like is boss who doesn't know when he is at a party is stupid. Not the greatest line of defence.

Just last week we’ve had David Warburton MP taking dodgy undeclared loans from a Russian ‘businessman’.

The Guardian says the loan in 2017 was around £150,000 and repaid in full at a 'high interest rate' of 8%. But it is alleged that it was not declared in the 28 days required so will also be looked at by parliamentary authorities.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves broke the 28 day rule only recently - is Keir Starmer considering a reshuffle?

1 April 2022
It took just one month for the Commons Standards Commissioner to rule that shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves did break MP sleaze rules over her registration of donations.

order-order.com/people/rachel-reeves/

the system needs to change to stop wealthy people like this dodging tax

Should be an easy decision for Labour then - and yet;

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said people should expect Sunak’s household to be treated the same as ordinary households without “special arrangements that reduce the tax that they pay”. But she also held back from repeating Labour’s previous pledges to scrap non-dom status, which were made under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, with the policy now “under review”.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/10/sunak-orders-investigation-leak-wife-non-dom-status

Ministers must scrupulously avoid any danger of an actual or perceived conflict of interest between their Ministerial position and their private financial interests. They should be guided by the general principle that they should either dispose of the interest giving rise to the conflict or take alternative steps to prevent it.

The ministerial code. Do we think RS has scrupulously avoid any danger of a COI? If he has truly followed the advice given to ministers and followed the correct ‘process’, then the process isn’t fit for purpose or isn’t being implemented properly. Surprise surprise.

What is notable is that very few ordinary Tories are supporting Sunak. Because what he has done is not really on.

There's a lot of 'technically xyz' and 'what about this person in the Labour party' but very few saying they have no problem with what Sunak has done.

Once you are down to technicalities the political argument is lost.

Seriously, if he followed all the rules etc then what is all the fuss and why did his wife decide to change where she pays tax?

Is a good question

It’s still created political damage even if he followed process - he doesn’t decide if it’s published or not, but for those who leaked it they’ve hit him pretty hard so it achieves that aim

@Clavinova not declaring (relatively small) donations to cover xmas cards and writing 2 articles isn't the same as avoiding paying millions in tax, which Sunak, as her spouse and it being family income, benefits from.

RR isn't in Govt or in charge of taxation policy and the omission sounds more like an admin error rather than deliberate fraud, which even i wouldn't blame a Tory for.

@Clavinova, when you have to resort to frantically looking for other MPs who could be accused of minor breaches of the rules, you are effectively putting up a big flashing sign that Sunak's conduct is unacceptable and you can't defend it, so you're trying to distract attention from it. It's really easy to read.

So according to ‘Guido Fawkes’ She filed some receipts for Xmas cards a bit late. Warburton never declared the loan. Never declared he’d entertained said Russian conman in Westminster with the sole aim of getting his brother in law a six figure salary job in conman’s firm. Anyways, don’t want to derail the thread with talk of the seedy lech. He probably deserves his own so you can defend him to the hilt @Clavinova.

@MarshaBradyo

Seriously, if he followed all the rules etc then what is all the fuss and why did his wife decide to change where she pays tax?

Is a good question

It’s still created political damage even if he followed process - he doesn’t decide if it’s published or not, but for those who leaked it they’ve hit him pretty hard so it achieves that aim

He can declare it himself, directly to the Register.

...and he decided to keep his Green Card, quite incredible.

Sunak is displaying a remarkable level of entitlement, a Chancellor of Exchequer should be above scrutiny when it comes to taxation & if he cannot see that, he is in the wrong job.