Foreign office minister suggests Labour sexism over Sunak wife criticism

Foreign office minister suggests Labour sexism over Sunak wife criticism

A foreign office minister has suggested Labour are treating wives as “merely an extension of their husbands,” as the row over the chancellor’s wife’s tax status rumbles on.

James Cleverly said via Twitter today: “I really thought that we had moved on from the notion that wives are merely an extension of their husbands.

“Seems that Labour didn’t get the memo.”

This morning business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng denied that Rishi Sunak’s wife is “sheltering” from taxation by holding a non-domicile status.

Kwasi Kwarteng was quizzed over the Independent newspaper’s reports that Akshata Murthy held the status status since as recently as April 2021, but seemed to brush off concerns. He stated that the public would “draw their own conclusions” regarding the situation.

He said that “there is no hint of any wrongdoing at all” in Rishi Sunak’s wife, an Indian citizen, holding the status.

Commenting on the reports, shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News today that “legitimate questions… need to be asked of Rishi Sunak” regarding his wife’s status, adding: “I think it is legal, but is it right? That is the question your viewers will be asking.”