Boris Johnson has promised that Rishi Sunak will keep his job in an expected reshuffle – even as the chancellor refused to say whether he and his family have benefited from his wife’s non-domicile tax status.
The prime minister did not rule out the widely predicted June shake-up, but had had no hesitation in assuring Sunak that he will remain in place to deliver his Budget in the autumn, telling reporters: “The answer to that is yes.”
In his first public grilling since The Independent revealed Akshata Murty’s non-dom status, Mr Sunak on Thursday insisted that she had “followed all the rules”.
Asked if his household benefited – or could benefit – from Ms Murty’s status, he replied: “She has always followed all the rules, paid all the tax in the UK that is due, and paid tax internationally on her international investments.”
Mr Sunak added: “But she recognised that this goes beyond just following those rules, so she had decided to pay both UK and foreign taxes on her foreign investments, and I fully support her decision to do so.”
The chancellor referred himself to Boris Johnson’s advisor Lord Geidt for an investigation into his ministerial interests earlier this month, but has insisted that he “always followed the rules”.
Labour had demanded to know whether Mr Sunak had ever benefited from the use of tax havens, and whether he had received any updates on his blind trust since becoming chancellor and questioned whether Mr Sunak had made a legal promise to the US when he received his green card – held for almost two years upon entering government.
Mr Sunak’s stock has fallen precipitously since his spring mini-Budget, in which he promised pre-election tax cuts in two years’ time but did nothing for the poorest facing soaring cost of living now.
But none of Mr Sunak’s cabinet colleagues were offered similar support by the prime minister. Despite hailing the home secretary, Priti Patel, for achieving an “outstanding” outcome on widely criticised plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, the PM declined to say that her job was safe.
Mr Johnson did not deny the reshuffle reports, telling journalists with him on his trip to India only: “You’ve just reminded me of rule number one – don’t talk about politicians, talk about what politicians can do for the electorate. Let’s talk about what we’re doing and let’s not talk about who’s going to do it."
But asked why, in that case, he had been ready to guarantee Mr Sunak’s job but not those of other cabinet ministers, he replied: “Well, c’est la vie.
“I am saying no more about personnel, the prosopographical approach is not right. This is about what we are doing for people, why I think it’s right to get on this plane and why it’s right for the government to get on with what it’s doing."
