Rishi Sunak may have seen his political fortunes tumble in recent months, but it does not appear to have dented his financial situation.
The UK chancellor and his wife, Akshata Murty, this made the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time with their joint £730 million ($910.38 million) fortune. Russian billionaires, meanwhile, tumbled down this year’s rankings.
There were a record 177 billionaires in the UK, according to the rankings.
Mr Sunak and his wife’s finances have come under intense scrutiny in recent months.
Last month, it was revealed that Ms Murty had non-dom status, which typically applies to someone who was born overseas and spends much of their time in the UK but still considers another country to be their permanent residence, or “domicile”.
It is estimated that Ms Murty’s non-dom status could have saved her £20 million in taxes on dividends from her shares in Infosys, an Indian IT company founded by her father.
She later agreed to pay UK taxes on her worldwide income.
His financial affairs came under particular scrutiny as pressure mounted on him to produce a package of support to ease the cost of living for millions of people struggling with higher food and energy bills. A windfall tax on energy companies is one possibility.
7. Christoph Henkel, centre, and family – £15 billion. Getty Images
8. Guy, George, Galen Jr and Alannah Weston – above with her father, Galen, now deceased – and family – £13.5 billion. Getty Images
9. Kirsten, pictured, and Jorn Rausing – £12 billion. PA
10. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, pictured, and Michel de Carvalho – £11.42 billion. AFP
He also saw his political fortunes dive after he was fined, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, over a breach of Covid regulations at Downing Street.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said it is “fantastic” that Mr Sunak has joined the rich list.
Mr Raab told Times Radio: “He’s a fantastic example of someone who’s been successful in business, who’s coming to make a big impact in public service.
“I think we want more of those people. I think it’s fantastic that you’ve got someone of British-Indian origin, showing all people in our country that you can get to the top of politics.
“And frankly, I think if I understood correctly, the Sunday Times Rich List was a reflection of not just him but his wife. His wife is an incredibly successful entrepreneur in her own right.
“Again someone that’s here, British-Indian, and actually I think we want to see more women succeeding in both business and politics.”
On Friday morning, the Sunday Times Rich List revealed the couple featured at 222 in the list with the joint forecast of £730 million, driven by Ms Murty’s £690 million stake in Infosys.
Meanwhile, Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who run the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, jumped to the top of the list after their wealth grew by more than £11 billion to £28.47 billion.
Entrepreneur Sir James Dyson and his family moved up to second in the list after a £6.7 billion increase to £23 billion.
Property investors David and Simon Reuben meanwhile were third with £22.26 billion, while Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik dropped from top spot to fourth.
One notable absentee from the upper reaches of the list is Roman Abramovich.
The former Chelsea FC owner slid from eighth to 28th in the rankings after his finances plummeted from £12.2 billion last year to £6 billion this year after sanctions, the enforced sale of Chelsea and the sharp fall in his Evraz shares.
Fellow Russians Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman dropped down the list after the value of their assets was hammered by financial measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Overall, the richest 250 in the UK this year are worth £710.72 billion, compared with £658.09 billion in 2021, an 8 per cent rise on last year, The Sunday Times said.
The 20 richest people in the UK according to the Sunday Times Rich List
Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family – £28.47 billion
Sir James Dyson and family – £23 billion
David and Simon Reuben and family – £22.26 billion
Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £20 billion
Guillaume Pousaz – £19.26 billion
Lakshmi Mittal and family – £17 billion
Christoph Henkel and family – £15 billion
Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £13.5 billion
Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12 billion
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £11.42 billion
Michael Platt – £10 billion
Alisher Usmanov – £10 billion
The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £9.73 billion
Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £9.6 billion
Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing – £9.49 billion
Anil Agarwal – £9.2 billion
Denise, John and Peter Coates – £8.64 billion
John Fredriksen and family – £8.31 billion
Mikhail Fridman – £8.22 billion
Moshe Kantor – £8 billion
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
GROUP RESULTS
Group A
Results
Ireland beat UAE by 226 runs
West Indies beat Netherlands by 54 runs
Group B
Results
Zimbabwe tied with Scotland
Nepal beat Hong Kong by five wickets
Sole survivors
Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
