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Rishi sunak

Thursday

Douglas Murray

I feel sorry for Rishi Sunak

Perhaps I should stress from the get-go that I do not know Rishi Sunak. So far as I know, we’ve only met once, some years ago when he was working at the think-tank Policy Exchange. He showed me to my seat when I arrived late for an event. It is one of those things you must get used to in this life – that the person you last saw helping you into a folding chair will just a few years later be Chancellor of the Exchequer. When I first noticed this tendency, a wise older friend cautioned me against feeling concern about it. Best to accept it as part of life’s great dance. In fact, my friend stressed, you shouldn’t even worry about it when some of the dimmest people you’ve met (not that Sunak fits that bill) arrive into the great offices of state.

Martin Vander Weyer

Who can put the toothpaste of inflation back in its tube?

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s food price index rose 13 per cent last month to stand a third higher than a year ago. Within the index, cereals rose by 17 per cent – driven by interrupted Ukrainian and Russian wheat supplies – and vegetable oils by 23 per cent, Ukraine being the world’s biggest sunflower farmer. In the UK, wholesale milk is up 20 per cent, as farmers face rising fuel and feed costs. Supermarkets squeeze suppliers to suppress retail prices: but soon, around the same time as our next quarterly gas bills, we’ll feel the full impact at the checkout. And then what?

Matthew Parris

What Rishi Sunak could learn from George Osborne

I was walking last week from Canary Wharf tube station to my flat in east London – not far, little more than a mile, and the walk follows the Thames on the north side, away from traffic: lovely. But as I headed for the river, I saw trouble. A thick curtain of rain had descended over Blackheath across the Thames, and the wind was blowing strongly from that direction. The storm had not yet reached Greenwich, still clear, but the curtain was moving. After Greenwich the rainstorm would cross the river – and hit me. Umbrella-less, I quickened my pace. Few others seemed to have noticed. People were ambling around, some sitting at outside tables at restaurants, some chatting on park benches.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Poll: Rishi should quit as Chancellor

It's been a pretty awful week for Rishi Sunak. In the space of seven days, his wife was revealed to be a non-domiciled resident, average wages fell by the highest sum since 2013, he admitted having a US Green Card until last year and UK GDP grew by just 0.1 per cent. Oh, and there was the small matter of the Metropolitan police fining him for a breach of lockdown laws. In Westminster, the impact of all that on his political capital is still sinking in. But in the country, it seems that the mind of the public is pretty clear: Rishi's star is on the wane.  For every voter who wants Sunak to stay as a Chancellor, two more want him to go.

Lord Wolfson

Why I resigned over partygate

This is an edited version of Lord Wolfson's resignation letter, following the Met's decision to fine Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak over Downing Street parties which broke Covid restrictions in 2020. Dear Prime Minister, Everyone in a state, and indeed the state itself, is subject to the law It was a great honour to be invited to join your government as a justice minister. In my maiden speech, I twice used the phrase 'justice and the rule of law'. Justice may often be a matter of courts and procedure, but the rule of law is something else – a constitutional principle which, at its root, means that everyone in a state, and indeed the state itself, is subject to the law.

Katy Balls

Has Boris got away with it?

Boris Johnson has had a surprisingly positive 24 hours since receiving a police fine. While not exactly positive, today's front pages are far from a nightmare selection. A number of Tory-leaning papers call for a sense of perspective with the Daily Mail asking of the PM’s critics ‘don't they know there's a war on?’.  On hearing the news that Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak had each received a fixed penalty notice, most Tory MPs came out to defend rather than attack the Prime Minister (see The Spectator’s updated list here). Notably, Roger Gale who had previously put in a no-confidence letter said that now was not the time to oust a Prime Minister and that he backed Johnson.

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak breaks his silence

After Boris Johnson issued an apology (along with a pool clip) over the fixed penalty notice he received for attending a birthday gathering in 10 Downing Street, attention turned to the silent Chancellor. Would Rishi Sunak resign in response to the fixed penalty notice he was handed? It's clear he's been uncomfortable with the partygate disclosures and did not expect to be issued with a fine.  Several hours after Johnson's statement, Sunak has confirmed that he plans to fight on. He said he 'deeply regrets the frustration and anger caused' and offers an 'unreserved apology': 'I can confirm I have received a Fixed Penalty Notice from the Metropolitan Police with regards to a gathering held on 19th June in Downing Street.  I offer an unreserved apology.

Katy Balls

Is Rishi politically naive?

Before the war in Ukraine, ministers and Tory MPs believed a fixed penalty notice for the Prime Minister would mean the end of Boris Johnson. It would result in enough no-confidence letters from Tory MPs to trigger a leadership contest which would run into the summer. There would be a new Prime Minister in time for the party conference in the autumn. But now the Prime Minister has been told he will be fined by Scotland Yard for attending parties during lockdown, no one is quite so sure. The reason? The circumstances around Johnson are changing. Until now, stories about lockdown parties in No. 10 had been overshadowed by the Ukrainian crisis. Johnson has also impressed MPs and the party membership with his response.

Steerpike

Six times Boris and Rishi denied breaking the law

Well, that's that then. This afternoon the Metropolitan Police fined the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of Exchequer for breaking lockdown laws. It follows an investigation into alleged Covid law-breaking at 12 gatherings in Whitehall and Downing Street. Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have maintained their innocence right up until this week. Below are six of the most memorable denials by the two men since claims emerged last year. 1 December 2021  At Prime Minister's Questions, Johnson denies that Covid rules had been broken. He tells the House of Commons: 'All guidance was followed completely in No. 10.' 3 December 2021 Asked whether rules had been broken Johnson told the BBC: 'That's not true. We followed the guidance throughout.

Saturday

Steerpike

Is Labour behind Rishi’s tax woes?

Who's out to get Rishi? That's the question allies of the Chancellor are asking after a week of revelations about the Richmond MP. They include the non-domiciled tax status of his wife, Akshata Murthy, Sunak's decision to hold a US green card and pay tax in America for his first 18 months in No. 11 and his own alleged links to tax havens. There have also been leaks over briefing battles, including the Treasury's opposition to insulating homes in the energy strategy and a proposal to double the energy rebate. The timing of such stories – coinciding with Boris Johnson emerging from the darkest period of his premiership – has raised suspicions about Johnson loyalists seeking revenge for Sunak's lukewarm support during partygate.

Fraser Nelson

Is Rishi just too rich for politics?

The obvious and perhaps only way out of this mess for Rishi Sunak was for his wife to pay double taxation: that is to say, to be taxed in India for any income on her 0.9 per cent stake in Infosys, the $100 billion company set up by her dad, and then taxed in the UK too. She doesn’t make this point in her statement. To talk about double taxation would sound like complaining - and already the idea of the Sunaks being irritated by questions about their tax affairs is being used against them. The Chancellor might be privately annoyed, arguing this double tax has never been required of anyone before. Is this to be the new test for the spouse of anyone in public life? But, as I say in my Daily Telegraph column, there has never been a Westminster Wag like Akshata Murthy.

Friday

Katy Balls

Rishi’s wife changes tack on tax

This evening Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty has announced that she will pay UK taxes on her overseas income, following a public backlash after reports of her tax arrangements as a non-domicile emerged on Wednesday night. The change in tack comes after the Chancellor used an interview with the Sun newspaper to accuse political opponents of 'smearing' his wife in order to hurt him.

Wednesday

Ross Clark

The war on workers

It is been a familiar story in recent years: a Budget that sounded reasonably good when delivered, but that unravels in subsequent days. Rishi Sunak’s spring statement was no exception. When he delivered it a fortnight ago, he said he was going to compensate low-earners by raising the primary threshold for National Insurance, bringing it into line with income tax and relieving people who earn less than £12,500 from having to pay NI at all. But as the 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance kicks in today, it turns out that the rise in the threshold for NI will not take effect for another three months, on 6 July. In the meantime, any employee who earns more than £9,880 a year will be paying 13.25 per cent of their earnings on NI.

Tuesday

Matthew Lynn

Rishi Sunak’s NFT gimmick is a step too far

We had got used to the expensive trainers. The carefully curated hoodies were just about acceptable. The Twitter feed was starting to grate on people’s nerves, and so were the stage-managed photo ops, such as filling up a borrowed Kia Rio at Sainsbury’s right after cutting fuel duty, but they were part of the package. But the Chancellor Rishi Sunak may finally have come up with a gimmick too far with the launch of the Treasury’s very own digital token. Sunak’s addiction to gimmicks is starting to undermine his credibility The Chancellor, between figuring out how to control inflation, pay for public services and reboot the economy found some time this week to launch the British government’s first NFT.

Tuesday

Kate Andrews

Is this the end of borrow and spend?

Since the spring statement last week, Rishi Sunak has been dealing with complaints from all sides: the right have been arguing he should have been bolder with tax cuts, the left insists more support is needed to help people with the rising costs.  With the Office for Budget Responsibility projecting the biggest fall in living standards since records began, rumours of U-turns and further announcements started bubbling over the weekend. The media, the opposition, and even some Tory MPs have been asking Treasury representatives over and over again: is that all? In a keynote address hosted by the Institute of Economic Affairs this morning, chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke answered that question in no uncertain terms: yes, for now, that is all.

Monday

Katy Balls

‘Do you think people are stupid?’ Rishi Sunak grilled by MPs

After unveiling his spring statement on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak found himself under attack from all sides: his personal approval ratings dived amid a media backlash and criticism from his own side. So, the Chancellor's appearance this afternoon before the Treasury Select Committee on paper made for a painful session.  Over the course of several hours, the committee of MPs quizzed him on whether he thought people were ‘stupid’ when it came to his pre-election tax cut, the impact of Brexit on trade and why he had borrowed a Sainsbury's worker's Kia for a publicity shot. When it came to the latter question, Sunak admitted that his team has asked a supermarket worker to lend their car for his spring statement photo-op to mark the five pence cut in fuel duty.

Friday

James Forsyth

Will inflation bring back austerity?

The return of inflation has changed politics, I say in the Times today . Until recently, it was possible to argue that the government should borrow to slashes taxes, or to cover almost any additional spending. It was so cheap to do so that it was almost rude not to, the argument went. Inflation was also dismissed as a dog that hadn’t barked since the early 1990s. Johnson was relaxed, while last September Liz Truss thought that – if necessary – borrowing would be a better way to pay for the government’s social care policy than raising National Insurance. But debt payments are now expected to quadruple. They will absorb an extra £96 billion between now and 2027, which puts a limit on how much more the government should want to borrow.

Thursday

Ross Clark

Can we trust economic models?

Rishi Sunak shared a delightful moment of honesty on the Today programme on Thursday. Mishal Husain asked him how households will cope if, as the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast, energy bills rise by a further £830 a year – on top of the rises already due to take effect in April. No, no, no, said the Chancellor, you can’t believe the OBR forecast on energy prices: ‘They just take what the market expectation is at a given time, and since they closed their forecast actually the forecast for energy bills in the autumn has come down by £400.’ It was a fair point.

Steerpike

Rishi Sunak and the art of politics

The sound of chinking glasses and merry laughter greeted Steerpike yesterday as he made his way through the Westminster village. Rishi Sunak might have placed an edict on Treasury staff holding their traditional office drinking session while watching him deliver his spring statement but clearly some just decamped to SW1's watering holes instead. What better way to greet the biggest fall in living standards in any single financial year. One baby-faced apparatchik was overhead remarking: 'That went alright, didn't it?' Less than 24 hours on, Mr S isn't so sure that's the judgement of the commentariat....

Katy Balls

Is Sunak’s spring statement starting to unravel?

The Chancellor woke this morning to a grim set of headlines as the newspapers chew over his spring statement. Despite dangling the carrot of an income tax cut by 2024, most papers focus on the OBR's projection that inflation will lead to the biggest fall in living standards since records began in the 1950s. While left-leaning papers such as the Guardian accuse Sunak of forgetting the poorest in society, the papers on the right aren't that much better for him. The Express asks about the 'forgotten millions', while the Telegraph roundly criticises his economic package. The Daily Mail has run with a slightly more welcome tone for Sunak but ultimately calls for more tax cuts to ease the cost of living crisis.