Making mr right ending5/24/2023 Ms Dorries said Mr Johnson was playing the "role of a leader during a crisis" when he toasted the departing staffer, demonstrating "good crisis leadership and management" by keeping morale high. Mr Johnson repeatedly said he felt it was important to "toast" people when they leave and also speak to groups inside Number 10 to keep morale up during his questioning by MPs this afternoon. Journalist Dan Hodges tweeted a picture of Mr Johnson raising a glass at a gathering in Number 10 during lockdown in November 2020 to mark the departure of a special adviser. Nadine Dorries, who was culture secretary under Boris Johnson and remains one of his most loyal supporters, has - unsurprisingly - come out in defence of her former boss. The Green Party's Caroline Lucas tweeted it's a "naked attempt" to bury bad news.įor the public watching beyond Westminster, it will surely add to the sense of cynicism about the financial arrangements of our political leaders. The Liberal Democrats say he "snuck them out whilst the world is distracted". Many are deeply uncomfortable by the timing of this release, halfway through Boris Johnson's blockbuster appearance before the privileges committee. There is no obligation to make this information public, but given the public scrutiny of Mr Sunak and his wife's extraordinary wealth, and the uproar surrounding her non-dom status, it's not surprising he felt the need to promise to do so on the leadership campaign trail last summer.īut that was some eight months ago. Neither Liz Truss nor Boris Johnson ever published their tax returns, and Theresa May only did so as home secretary, not prime minister. These can be controversial, allowing the owner to hold on to investments without disclosing what they are, and critics argue that the PM should fully disclose where his money is invested to prove he has no conflicts of interest. The supporting notes explain that all the investment income and capital gains relate to a single US based investment fund which is administered as a blind management arrangement, meaning Mr Sunak has no control over how his portfolio is managed. We have no way of knowing the total value of his assets, however. If we assume he was earning a standard 3% rate on the US high street savings account, that would work out at around £83,000 in savings. While the summary is very short on detail, we can hazard an educated guess at the total value of the investments Mr Sunak has based on the interest and dividends paid out - one expert told me they believe it would be around £7m. Others of course will argue there’s nothing wrong with being financially successful. But many struggling with the highest tax burden in 70 years during a cost of living crisis will find the tax rates enjoyed by those who benefit from capital gains frustrating. There is no suggestion that the PM has done anything improper. The tax rate on capital gains is substantially lower than taxes on earnings - on his £1.6m in capital gains last year, Mr Sunak paid £325k, which works out at 20%. It's striking how much more of his income comes from capital gains and investments - more than £1.8m last year - than his salary as an MP and PM - £156,163. He paid £1,053,060 in tax on that - an effective tax rate of 22%. Over the three tax years this refers to, his total pre-tax income was £4,766,962. The most striking immediate takeaway is that Mr Sunak - as we knew - is a very wealthy man. Instead, like David Cameron before him, the PM has released a summary of his UK taxable income, capital gains and tax. Well, firstly it's not the full tax return submitted to HM Revenue and Customs - which is what we saw Nicola Sturgeon publishing in February. While Westminster was looking the other way, Rishi Sunak finally published a summary of his tax returns.
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