Keir Starmer demands Rishi Sunak ‘come clean’ on wife’s finances and slams ‘smear’ claim

Labour’s leader slapped back – metaphorically – after Chancellor Rishi Sunak compared himself to Will Smith at the Oscars over questions about his wife

Keir Starmer today hit back at Rishi Sunak – demanding he “come clean” about whether his family has any business interests in Russia.

The millionaire Tory complained yesterday that questions about his super-rich wife Akshata Murthy were not “fair game”.

After Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars over a joke about his wife, Mr Sunak added: “Both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked – at least I didn’t get up and slap anybody, which is good.”

But Labour ’s leader today said it was a “fundamental question of principle”, in the “public interest” and “not a personal attack”.

Keir Starmer told Sky News: “I would have thought the Chancellor would actually want to come clean on this and say actually, ‘I can be very very clear that my household doesn’t benefit from any money that’s come in any way from Russia during this invasion of Ukraine ’.

“It’s a simple question, I think he should just answer it, it would actually help his wife if he just answered that question.”

Mr Sunak faced questions over his wife’s business affairs following the Spring Statement last week.

The Chancellor has urged firms to “think very carefully about their investments in Russia”, adding: “There is no case for new investment in Russia”.

Ms Murthy owns a 0.91% stake in Infosys, an IT firm founded by her billionaire father NR Narayana Murthy, which has continued to operate from their Moscow office.

Her stake is currently worth £430million, while the family hold a combined £2.7bn shareholding in Infosys – an increase from £1.7billion that was last reported in 2020.

Mr Sunak told the BBC : “You know, I think it’s totally fine for people to take shots at me. It’s fair game.

“I’m the one sitting here and that’s what I signed up for.

“Actually, it’s very upsetting and, I think, wrong for people to try and come at my wife, and you know, beyond that actually, with regard to my father in law, for whom I have nothing but enormous pride and admiration for everything that he’s achieved.

“No amount of attempted smearing is going to make me change that because he’s wonderful and has achieved a huge amount, as I said, I’m enormously proud of him.”

But Labour’s leader said today: “As far as the Chancellor’s wife is concerned, there’s just a fundamental question of principle here, which is, is their household benefiting from money made in Russia when the government’s put in place sanctions?

“That is in the public interest for us to have an answer to.

“I’m not attacking their family, I don’t agree with that way of doing politics.

“But I do want to know is, is the Chancellor’s household benefiting from money from a company that’s investing in money when the government’s saying quite rightly that nobody should be doing that?”

The Chancellor has previously said he “followed the ministerial code to the letter” regarding his financial interests.

A Treasury spokesman told the Mirror: “The Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial interests has confirmed he is completely satisfied with the Chancellor’s propriety of arrangements and that he has followed the ministerial code to the letter in his declaration of interests.”

The Ministerial Code states: “Ministers must provide their Permanent Secretary with a list, in writing, of all relevant interests known to them, which might be thought to give rise to a conflict.

“Individual declarations, and a note of any action taken in respect of individual interests, are then passed to the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team and the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.”