Top members of the Conservative Party have dashed Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s hopes of becoming British prime minister as per a report published in ‘The Observer’.
His popularity has plummeted in recent weeks after he accused critics of mounting a “smear” campaign against his wealthy Indian wife Akshata Murthy.
She is the daughter of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy and was condemned for shielding the overseas income from her family’s company Infosys against UK taxes.
Murthy owns about 0.9 per cent of the company. Last year, this entitled her to a dividend payment worth 11.6 million pounds ($15.12 million).
Sunak also came under the most sustained pressure since he became finance minister in 2020 due to his decision to increase payroll taxes at a time when surging inflation leaves Britons facing the biggest cost-of-living squeeze since records began in 1956.
“The worry is that this is symptomatic of a party in terminal decline and that we are in a death spiral,” a former Tory minister told the Observer.
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“He (Sunak) 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.”
Sunak has confirmed media reports that he only gave up a “green card” for the United States after he became Britain’s finance minister.
His approval ratings have dropped to a new low of -15, which is even lesser than Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s as per the latest opinion poll for the Observer.
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Meanwhile, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Sunak considered whether he should resign this week after a storm of criticism over his wife’s tax status.
“He was considering whether he could withstand his family taking this any more,” the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying.
“There’s going to be a full Cabinet Office and HM Treasury investigation into who had that information and if anyone has requested that information. Divulging the tax status of a private individual is a criminal offence.”
“The timing is terrible. I think his problem is that taxes have gone up a lot in his period as chancellor, which is not popular in the party or country. And we have a cost-of-living crisis. None of this looks good,” said another third senior figure in the party.
(With inputs from agencies)
