In politics, like sports, momentum matters. The same blow one might shrug off if the fight is going your way can floor you if it isn’t. So it was with Boris Johnson, who shrugged off innumerable embarrassments before they started to stick after the Owen Paterson fiasco and Partygate revelations. And so it is now for Rishi Sunak, who is under scrutiny for his wife’s tax affairs. 

The truth is that Akshata Murty’s tax status would have been obvious at any time to anyone who had paid. She is a citizen of India worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Of course she would take advantage of a status designed for wealthy foreigners. But what is a passing detail when you’re hosing the electorate with public money during a pandemic is a looming iceberg when you’re set to preside over a cost-of-living crisis.

That the Chancellor didn’t foresee this is yet more evidence that his political instincts may not be all they were once thought to be. But that doesn’t mean that all the criticism levelled at him is proportionate or well-founded. Suggestions he resign for reportedly acquiring a US green card, for example, sit uncomfortably alongside the fact that Boris Johnson served as Foreign Secretary whilst holding an American passport.

In fact, one doesn’t even need to be a British citizen to stand for Parliament. Irish or Commonwealth citizens (including Murty) can do so on their original passports. This remarkably open approach is a product of Britain’s historic circumstances. And, whatever you may think of that, it is clear Sunak’s conduct is not out of keeping with it.

Sunak’s Conservative opponents ought to see the dangers turning against non-domiciled status. They should remember that the real non-dom regime, rather than the one that exists in the heads of left-wing activists, is broadly a good thing for Britain. 

By avoiding double taxation on money earned and spent overseas, which would be morally iniquitous in any event, it encourages wealthy people to take up residence here, bringing a share of their wealth with them. They still pay tax on money in this country just the same as everyone else. This includes not only tax receipts but investment and other spending, as well as growth and jobs if they establish businesses here. It is a system which has helped establish Britain as a hub for global wealth.  

One might therefore expect pro-capitalists to defend Mrs Murty’s right to be a non-dom. Indeed, much of the opposition to the status is predicated on the socialist belief that billionaires shouldn’t exist in the first place, and this conversation will only feed into the hands of Left-wing politicians, whose anti-business policies will undoubtedly gain legitimacy out of it. 

Conservative MPs are well within their rights to conclude that the current media storm, following on from the Spring Statement, is evidence sufficient that Sunak should never lead their party. But they should be careful not to indulge anti-wealth narratives. Such an approach would ultimately catch up with them.