Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has become the first high-profile U.K. politician to make it to a “Rich List” of the 250 wealthiest British residents published by a national newspaper on Friday.
The announcement of the Sunday Times Rich List comes weeks after Sunak’s family's tax arrangements attracted controversy and amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Sunak’s inclusion is largely a result of the wealth of his wife, Akshata Murty, whose father co-founded the IT behemoth Infosys. The bulk of their wealth is believed to come from Murty’s 690 million pound ($859.47 million) stake in Infosys, but Sunak also had a highly lucrative career in finance before entering politics in 2015.
The listing comes at a politically difficult time for the man in charge of Britain’s budget as he faces pressure to increase support for households struggling with soaring energy bills and food prices.
The couple made The Sunday Times U.K. Rich List for the first time at number 222 with a reported joint net worth of 730 million pounds, the Sunday Times newspaper said. The list’s compilers say their analysis is based on minimum estimates of identifiable wealth.
Murthy, an Indian citizen, owns about 0.9% of Infosys.
Sunak, a former Goldman Sachs analyst who became chancellor aged 39 in 2020, earlier this week warned the country that the “next few months will be tough.”
Sunak and Murthy faced criticism and public anger last month over Murthy’s “non-domiciled” tax status which meant she did not pay tax in Britain on her earnings abroad. She subsequently gave up the status and said she would pay British tax on her global income.
The Sunday Times Rich List, first published in 1989, ranks the wealthiest people resident in Britain. It includes British citizens as well as individuals and families from overseas but who predominantly work or live in the United Kingdom.
“There are some people who approach us wanting to be put onto the Rich List every year, Mr. Sunak wasn’t one of those,” list compiler Robert Watts, told Sky News.
The listing this year estimates the minimum wealth of Britain’s 250 richest people or families, and features far fewer Russian billionaires due to Western sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Sunday Times’ list calculates identifiable wealth – land, property, racehorses, art or significant shares in publicly quoted companies – but is unable to measure bank account balances and small shareholdings in private equity portfolios.
Sri and Gopi Hinduja, the Indian-born brothers who run the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, topped the latest ranking after their wealth grew by more than 11 billion pounds to 28.47 billion pounds.
Entrepreneur James Dyson and his family climbed to second with a wealth estimate of 23 billion pounds, an increase of 6.7 billion pounds.
Property investors David and Simon Reuben, meanwhile, came in third, with 22.26 billion pounds, while Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik dropped from the top spot to fourth.
However, one billionaire who headed in the opposite direction was Roman Abramovich.
The Russian former owner of Chelsea Football Club dropped from eighth to 28th after his finances plummeted from 12.2 billion pounds last year to 6 billion pounds this year in the wake of Western sanctions.
The latest ranking of the 250 richest people in Britain also revealed a record 177 billionaires in Britain this year, up from 2021.
It comes as typical British households come under increased financial pressure from rampant inflation, which struck a 40-year-high of 9% in April.
Overall, the richest 250 in Britain this year are worth 710.72 billion pounds, compared to 658.09 billion pounds in 2021, an 8% rise on last year, the Sunday Times said.
