UK’s Rishi Sunak makes move to defuse tax row

Rishi Sunak asked for a formal review into whether he properly declared his financial interests, as the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer tries to defuse a row over his tax affairs that threatens to derail his career.

In a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson published late Sunday, Mr Sunak said he wants a probe by the government’s adviser on ministerial standards to help ensure the public retain confidence in the answers they are given.

The move comes as he faces intense pressure to lay out the details of his and his family’s financial arrangements. It emerged last week his millionaire wife, Akshata Murthy, holds non-domicile status and was not paying UK taxes on her overseas income and the chancellor held a US green card — proof of permanent residency — which he only gave up more than a year and a half into his current role.

The opposition Labour Party said it wrote to Johnson and the standards adviser earlier Sunday demanding a probe into whether ministerial rules had been broken. A fish rots from the head, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said in an emailed statement. It is the prime minister’s responsibility to bring this debacle to a close by ensuring that standards are upheld across his cabinet.

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