Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has urged Rishi Sunak to “come clean” over whether his household benefits from any Russia-related interests.
The chancellor has faced questions over his wife, Akshata Murthy, 0.91 per cent stake in the IT and services giant Infosys — a company founded by her father, Narayana, and which continues to operate in Russia.
Mr Sunak yesterday hit out at the scrutiny, saying it was wrong and “very upsetting” for people “to try and come at my wife” and the “attempted smearing” of his father-in-law.
But in a series of interviews on Friday, Sir Keir insisted that the chancellor, who has told British businesses to “think carefully” about making investments that would benefit Russia, had questions to answer.
Speaking on Sky News he said: “So far as the chancellor’s wife is concerned, there’s just a fundamental question of principle, is their household benefitting from money made in Russia when the government has 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 politics.
“But I do want to know if the chancellor’s household is benefiting from money from a company that’s investing in Russia when the government is saying quite rightly that nobody should be doing that”.
He added: “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 the question”.
A spokesperson for the chancellor told The Independent: “Ms Murthy is one of thousands of minority shareholders in the company.
“It is a public company and neither her nor any member of her family have any involvement in the operational decisions of the company.”
Asked about Infosys – which has four offices in the UK but has reportedly kept offices in Moscow – Mr Sunak told Sky News earlier this month: “I have absolutely no idea because I have nothing to do with that company.”
Pressed on whether his family was “potentially benefiting from Putin’s regime”, he added: “I don’t think that’s the case. I’m an elected politician and I’m here to talk to you about what I’m responsible for. My wife is not.”
Addressing the situation again last night on BBC Newscast, the chancellor also attempted to compare attacks on his wife to the Will Smith Oscar’s slap scandal.
Sir Keir Starmer says: ‘It’s a simple question, I think he should just answer it’
“Someone said, ‘Joe Root, Will Smith, and me – not the best of weekends for any of us,” he joked. “But I feel, on reflection, both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked – at least I didn’t get up and slap anybody, which is good,”
Going further, the chancellor added: “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 he’s achieved,” he added.
“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”.
The ministerial code asks ministers to declare any all “relevant” interests – including those of spouses – which might give rise to a conflict.
