Rishi Sunak has been tipped to “just go” and live in California as his popularity is seen to plummet amid the row over his wife’s tax status and outrage at his response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Allies of the Chancellor have reportedly conceded that Mr Sunak will be more inclined to live in Santa Monica if his prospects of taking the Tory leadership falter.
It is said he could look to pursue a career in Silicon Valley, where he has a £5.5million seafront penthouse.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty
Ian West
Chancellor Rishi Sunak
PHIL NOBLE
The Chancellor has referred to this as "home," The Telegraph reports.
The newspaper quotes a friend as saying: “He isn’t the sort of person who would stay in Parliament for another 10 years waiting for his chance to come around again.
“If it became apparent he wasn’t going to be Prime Minister, he would just go.”
This comes amid outrage over the disclosure that his wife, Akshata Murty, was non domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.
It has been estimated that her non-dom status could have saved her £20million in taxes on dividends from her shares in Infosys, an Indian IT company founded by her father.
Labour accused Mr Sunak of hypocrisy, saying his family was saving tens of millions of pounds as a result of the arrangement while he was putting up taxes for millions of others.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Lord Geidt with a series of detailed questions about his family’s affairs which she said needed answering.
She said: “A fish rots from the head. It is the Prime Minister’s responsibility to bring this debacle to a close by ensuring that standards are upheld across his Cabinet.”
It was announced on Friday that Ms Murty would pay UK taxes on all her worldwide income failed to stem the criticism would pay UK taxes on all her worldwide income, but this has failed to stem the criticism.
Mr Sunak has ordered a full-scale investigation by the Cabinet Office and the Treasury into who leaked details of his wife’s tax status to the media.
In his letter requesting a review, Mr Sunak said: “My overriding concern is that the public retain confidence in the answers that are given and I believe the best way of achieving this is to ensure those answers are entirely independent, without bias or favour.
“I am confident that such a review of my declarations will find all relevant information was appropriately declared.
“I have throughout my ministerial career followed the advice of officials regarding matters or propriety and disclosure and will continue to do so.”
The Chancellor also faced outrage over his Spring Statement announcement.
His popularity had already plunged in the lead-up to the statement, with his net favourability down 24 points since March 23, to reach minus 29.
A YouGov poll found 57 percent of Brits have an unfavourable opinion of the Chancellor, compared with 28 percent who view him in a positive light.