Sunday Times Rich List: Rishi Sunak first front line politician to join with combined £730m fortune

Rishi Sunak has become the first frontline politician included in the Rich List as pressure grows on the Government to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

The Chancellor and his wife Akshata Murty are equally ranked at 222nd with a joint fortune of £730 million.

Ms Murty owns a stake estimated to be worth £690 million in Infosys, India’s second-largest IT company. The firm was started by Narayana, her billionaire father, in the 1980s.

She owns 0.93 per cent of the company, or 39 million shares, according to Bloomberg, and is thought to have received almost £12 million in dividends in the past year.

Mr Sunak, 42, began his career as an analyst at investment bank Goldman Sachs, before moving to the Children’s Investment Fund, a hedge fund run by Sir Chris Hohn, in 2006.

Robert Watts, who compiles the Sunday Times Rich List, said: “This year’s Sunday Times Rich List again uncovers record wealth and more billionaires than ever before.

“While many of us are experiencing the greatest cost of living squeeze we can remember, the super-rich have had another record year.”

It comes as pressure grows on Mr Sunak to take further action on the cost-of-living crisis in a week that saw inflation surge to a 40-year high.

The Treasury has so far confirmed £22 billion of direct support, including a council tax rebate and an increase in the National Insurance threshold to £12,500.

Speaking at the CBI earlier this week, Mr Sunak insisted the Treasury was “ready to do more” to help the most vulnerable.

But many in his own party have urged him to go further, while there has been pressure from Labour to introduce a one-off windfall tax on the profits of North Sea oil and gas companies.

Robert Halfon, the chairman of the education select committee, last week urged the Government to introduce a significant package of further measures to support struggling families and said the “extreme circumstances” are enough to justify a windfall tax.

On Friday, Lord Frost joined the ranks of those calling for an emergency Budget, while Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, encouraged Boris Johnson to reverse last month’s National Insurance rise and said it “cannot happen under a Conservative watch”.