Slobby chic! Rishi’s wife Akshata Murty opts for £50 fur gilet as she moves back into No 10
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She may be the heiress to a billionaire father, but Rishi Sunak’s wife ditched the designer labels this weekend to show off her love for high street brands.
Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Indian IT tycoon Narayana Murthy, was caught on Saturday overseeing the movers unpacking the family’s furniture in No10.
Ms Murthy, who you often see dressed in designer labels, opted for a casual look for the occasion – couples gray leggings, a light gray jumper and a black fuzzy £50 H&M waistcoat with her £42 White Company faux fur slippers.
She was pictured overseeing Bishop’s Move workers unloading a piano, double mattress and barbecue, as well as smaller boxes of belongings.
The Sunak family has chosen to return to flat No. 10 – where they lived when Mr Sunak was Minister of Finance – rather than move to the more spacious flat in No. 11, as has been the custom for Prime Ministers since 1997 , when Sir Tony Blair came to power.
Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murthy opted for a casual look to move around on the weekend – she paired gray leggings, a light gray jumper and a £50 black fluffy H&M waistcoat with her £42 White Company faux fur slippers
Akshata’s off-duty mum style included a pair of new White Company slippers.
Described online as ‘stylish and versatile’, the brand says they can be worn as ‘nightwear as loungewear and daywear’ and are suitable for ‘milder weather’.
Ms Murthy, who owns a £430 million stake in her Indian tech billionaire’s IT department, has raised eyebrows with her luxurious wardrobe.
In December 2020, the IT heiress wore a box-fresh pair of £445 Gucci sneakers, a REDValentino shearling jacket and a £1,630 leather jacket and a leather skirt worth over £1,000, to date night with her husband in chic Mayfair.
She was pictured overseeing Bishop’s Move workers unloading a piano, double mattress and barbecue, as well as smaller boxes of belongings
Mr Sunak and Mrs Murthy have built a joint fortune of £730 million, the Sunday Times Rich List revealed in May, making him the first frontline politician to be in the annual ranking since its inception in 1989.
Mr Sunak made a lot of money in the City of London before entering politics.
But most of the money comes from his wife’s stake in IT giant Infosys, founded by her father N.R. Narayana Murthy, one of the richest men in India who is described as the father of the Indian IT sector and ‘ one of the 12 greatest businessmen of all time.”
In the past seven and a half years alone, Ms Murthy has received approximately £54 million in dividends.
There was a furore after it was revealed that Ms Murthy had a non-domiciled status which usually applies to someone who was born abroad and spends much of their time in the UK but still has another country as their regular residence or ‘domicile’.
It is estimated that Ms Murthy’s non-dome status could have saved her £20m in taxes on dividends. She later agreed to pay UK taxes on her worldwide income.
Her family also has a joint venture with Amazon worth £900 million a year and shares in the company that runs Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italian and hamburger chain Wendy’s in India.
Before becoming chancellor, Sunak was better known in India than in Britain, having become a household name when he married Akshata.
The furor that came after it was revealed that Ms Murthy was a non-domiciple, which usually applies to someone who was born abroad and spends much of their time in the UK, but still use another country as his regular residence or ‘domicile’.
Rishi Sunak along with his billionaire heiress wife Akshata Murty – by far the richest Downing Street residents in history
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata (pictured at a campaign event in Grantham in July) have two children, Krishna (11) and Anoushka (9).
There has been plenty of speculation as to whether the family would return to previous living arrangements, with Mr Sunak splitting his time between Downing Street and his home in West London.
In April, Mr Sunak, his wife Akshata Murty, their daughters Krishna and Anoushka and the Labrador Nova family moved to be closer to the £22,000-a-year private school for the children.
Around the same time as news broke that Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty had claimed “non-dom” tax status, reportedly saving her millions, speculation was that the move was linked to a desire to avoid media attention, although Mr Sunak denied that at the time.
But earlier this week, Mr. Sunak’s press secretary told reporters, “They are moving to flat No. 10, where they used to live.”
When asked if the family plans to redecorate the flat, his press secretary replied, “Not that I know of.”
It means they won’t be living in the flat above No. 11, which was renovated by Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie for an estimated £200,000 in the so-called ‘wallpapergate’ scandal – which was notorious for gold wallpaper costing thousands of pounds.
However, Mr Sunak still keeps the London mansion, and if he wants to get away from Downing Street, he will be able to spend the weekends at the Prime Minister’s official estate, Checkers, with his family, as well as spend time on their London properties and their constituency in North Yorkshire.
The extraordinary wealth of the wider family of Rishi Sunak’s billionaire heiress wife Akshata Murty has been exposed