Sunday Times Rich List 2022: Who are the wealthiest people in the UK? Rishi Sunak joins top 250

Britain’s super wealthy have accumulated even more cash during the worst cost of living crisis for 40 years with a record 177 billionaires now worth £710billion living in the UK, the new Sunday Times Rich List revealed today – as Rishi Sunak was named the richest serving MP in history and Roman Abramovich lost £6billion.

Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who run the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group that owns businesses in automotive, oil, chemicals, banking, IT, media and real estate, have jumped to the top of the list after their wealth grew by more than £11billion in the past year to £28.47billion. 

Entrepreneur, inventor and vacuum mogul Sir James Dyson and his family moved up to second in the list after a £6.7billion increase to £23 billion in 2022. Property investors David and Simon Reuben meanwhile were third with £22.26 billion, while Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik dropped from top spot to fourth.

The top riser was Guillaume Pousaz, the former ‘beach bum’ founder of Checkout.com, who is up to fifth worth £19billion – up an extraordinary £13billion in a year – due to a growing business and a huge increase in online sales during the pandemic, according to the 2022 list, which only has one UK-born person in the top 10.

One notable absentee from the top of the list is Roman Abramovich – one of many oligarchs who have taken a financial hammering because of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Abramovich’s £12billion fortune in 2021 is believed to have halved to £6billion after he was sanctioned, which saw his assets frozen, shares in his Evraz company collapse and forced him to put Chelsea up for sale. He has dropped from eighth to 28th. The fortunes of billionaire oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman have also taken a hammering.

And it was revealed Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty have built up a joint fortune of £730million as the Chancellor became the first serving MP to be named in the Sunday Times Rich List. 

Mr Sunak, 42, has been named at 222 in the top 250 richest people in the UK – the first frontline politician since the wealth rankings’ inception in 1989 – just hours after he warned Britons they face ‘tough’ time due to the spiking cost of living and crippling inflation.

The latest ranking of the 250 richest people in Britain also revealed a record 177 billionaires in the UK this year, up from 2021.  This year’s top 250 have more cash than all 1,000 entries in the 2017 Rich List.

It comes as typical UK households come under increased financial pressure from rampant inflation, which struck a 40-year-high of 9% in April.

Overall, the richest 250 in the UK this year are worth £710.72 billion, compared to £658.09 billion in 2021, an 8% rise on last year, the Sunday Times said.

The Chancellor and his wife’s finances have come under intense scrutiny. Last month MailOnline revealed the extraordinary £15million property portfolio and £700million-plus fortune Mr Sunak shares with his Indian wife.

The furore came after was revealed that Ms Murty had non-dom status, which typically applies to someone who was born overseas and spends much of their time in the UK but still considers another country to be their permanent residence or ‘domicile’.

It has been estimated Ms Murty’s non-dom status could have saved her £20million in taxes on dividends from her shares in Infosys, an Indian IT company founded by her father. She later agreed to pay UK taxes on her worldwide income.

Mr Sunak, was cleared of breaching the ministerial code by Boris Johnson’s standards adviser after considering the tax affairs, made big money in the City of London before entering politics.

But the bulk of the cash is from his wife’s £690million stake in IT giant Infosys, set up by her father. Ms Murty has enjoyed around £54million in dividends over the past seven and a half years alone.

It appears then, Mr Sunak may be worth around £40million himself.  

One Twitter user described Mr Sunak’s inclusion as a ‘bitter pill to take’. She wrote: ‘Rishi Sunak and his wife making the Rich List is a bitter pill to take from a man in charge of the country’s purse strings – when so many have been forced into poverty with the current cost of living crisis.’

Robert Palmer, who works with pressure group TaxJustice, added: ‘It is particularly striking that Rishi Sunak is the first politician to make the list.

‘He had the power to ease the cost of living but has done far too little. It is way past the time for the Chancellor to act.’ While the Times describes Mr Sunak as the first ‘frontline politician’ to feature on the list, he is not the first politician. 

Meanwhile, journalist and writer Otto English, a keen critic of the the Tories, today shared the news with a pun, calling Mr Sunak ‘Richie Sunak’.

Scottish writer Darren McGarvey also joined in the reaction, writing: ‘I hear Rishi Sunak is the hottest new entry on the Sunday Times Rich list. 

‘Enjoy your cost of living crisis plebs and keep the noise down will you? Your chancellor is concentrating hard on counting all his sweet sweet cash while navigating a path to the highest office in the land.’  

But Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has said it’s ‘fantastic’ that Chancellor Rishi Sunak has joined the Sunday Times Rich List

Mr Raab told Times Radio: ‘He’s a fantastic example of someone who’s been successful in business, who’s coming to make a big impact in public service.

‘I think we want more of those people. I think it’s fantastic that you’ve got someone of British-Indian origin, showing all people in our country that you can get to the top of politics.

‘And frankly, I think if I understood correctly, the Sunday Times Rich List was a reflection of not just him but his wife. His wife is an incredibly successful entrepreneur in her own right.

‘Again someone that’s here, British-Indian, and actually I think we want to see more women succeeding in both business and politics.’

Chancellor Mr Sunak is under pressure after inflation hit a 40-year high of 9 per cent, with food and energy costs among the main concerns.

But wrangling has continued within the Cabinet over the idea of using a windfall tax on oil and gas producers – which have benefited from high global prices – to fund measures to help with household bills.

It was reported that Boris Johnson was ‘intrinsically opposed’ to the levy, despite the Treasury being more open to the idea. But Downing Street insisted ‘the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are aligned’.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘You’ve heard them both say effectively the same thing when it comes to these sorts of taxes. We want to see significant investment by these sorts of companies into British jobs to grow the economy, to secure our energy supply for the long term.’

Mr Sunak appeared to acknowledge the need for further support for the poorest in a speech to the CBI on Wednesday night, saying: ‘Right now, we have a collective responsibility to help the most vulnerable in our society.’

But he wants to avoid inflicting further damage on the public finances, which have already been battered by the billions pumped in to the Covid-19 pandemic response, or introducing any stimulus measures which could further increase inflation.

In March Roman Abramovich was added to the list of Putin-tied oligarchs sanctioned over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Yachts, mansions and other luxury assets have since been seized from the money-makers.

Mr Abramovich, who denies being Putin’s ‘money man’, has put Chelsea up for sale and is also said to be selling off his £200million of properties in the capital.

He has been linked to five superyachts worth £1billion. His two main ones, Solaris and Eclipse, are in Turkish waters, to avoid being seized in the EU. 

One has sailed there from the Caribbean, crossing the Atlantic and tracking the north African coast.

As well as cash and assets being frozen, his companies have suffered.  Evraz, the sanctioned steelmaker which the UK Government claims is ‘controlled’ by the Chelsea owner, saw its value collapse by more than four-fifths and its shares suspended on the London Stock Exchange after Russia invaded Ukraine.

French authorities seized Roman’s Château de la Croë, situated on one of the most prestigious parts of the French Riviera – the Cap d’Antibes – and which local estate agents estimate to be worth around £90million.

Bids are still under consideration to buy Chelsea, which could be sold for around £3billion given the interest that has emerged since Abramovich put the west London Premier League club up for sale.

The British government must sign off on the deal, which is being overseen by the New York-based Raine Group merchant bank, under the terms that allow the team to continue operating since Abramovich was sanctioned. But Abramovich cannot profit from the any of the proceeds. He is also believed to have waived a £1.6bn loan.

Sir Paul McCartney is top of the Music Rich List, according to the new edition of The Sunday Times Rich List.

Sir Paul, 80 next month, continues to add to the fortune he shares with his American wife Nancy Shevell, 62. The value of Macca’s music rights helps to add £45 million to the couple’s joint fortune which now stands at £865 million and ranks them among the richest 200 people in the UK.

Dublin rock band U2 are the top Irish entry in the Music Rich List, jointly worth £625 million (€735 million). Former One Direction member Niall Horan, 28, is Ireland’s wealthiest young musician, worth £52 million (€61 million).

Tyneside-born Sting, 70, has boosted his personal fortune by £100m. Now worth £320 million, the singer-songwriter sold his music rights to Universal Music earlier this year.

Composer and theatre owner Lord Lloyd-Webber, 74, has seen his wealth drop by £30 million to £495 million but he still retains second place in the Music Rich List. He recently announced that his West End musical Cinderella, delayed by the pandemic, will close next month.

A sell-out tour of North America in 2021 and the success of his second album Fine Line has added £25 million to the fortune of Harry Styles, making him Britain’s wealthiest young musician. 

The 28-year-old former One Direction member is now worth £100 million. Following hard on his heels is singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, 26. Jointly ranked 2nd in the Young Musicians Rich List, alongside Little Mix, Dua Lipa’s personal fortune is now £60 million, up £24 million in a year.

Robert Watts, the compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: ‘Selling their music rights has proved extremely lucrative for many of the older acts on the Music Rich List – especially those who had quiet pandemics. 

We expect the post-Covid return to touring will see many of these singers and bands earn well this year and next. It seems old musicians never retire, they just get richer. 

‘Another golden year for Ed Sheeran leads us to believe he may in time pip Paul McCartney to become the first British billionaire musician.’

Half of Scotland’s 10 billionaires saw their fortunes fall over the last year, the Sunday Times Rich List 2022 has revealed.

The richest person in Scotland is fashion tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen, who owns popular brand ASOS. He is worth around £6.5 billion and saw an increase of £500 million since last year, the newspaper said.

Glenn Gordon and family who own spirits company William Grant and Sons saw their wealth dip by around £200 million since 2021.

Pharmaceutical giants Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and John Shaw and family also saw their fortune fall by an estimated £400 million.

The annual list reveals the wealth of the 250 richest people in Britain and published its 34th edition online on Friday.

Also featuring on this year’s Scottish list are new entrants The Easedale Brothers, who are worth around £1.3 billion. The pair were formerly directors of Rangers and have built their wealth through transport and property acquisitions.

Owners of media firm DC Thomson, the Thomson family, have seen their fortune grow by £314 million since 2021.

There are now 10 billionaires in Scotland, with head of Clyde Blowers, Jim McColl coming in 11th place having recently lost his billionaire status.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling follows, with her wealth estimated to be around £870 million.

Robert Watts, the compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: ‘Scotland’s richest people have fared less well than those elsewhere in the UK, with half of this year’s 10 Scottish billionaires seeing their fortunes fall over the past year.

‘The combined wealth of the country’s 10 billionaires is still up, at nearly 2% on 2021.

‘As the economy continues to work through the damage wrought by the pandemic, surging inflation and the disruption to markets caused by the war in Ukraine are now making the business environment difficult.’

#1 Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family –  £28billion

Industry: Diversified 

Siblings Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok control the expansive Hinduja conglomerate that boasts businesses including transportation to banking to real estate. 

They own the Old War Office building in Whitehall, which will soon be transformed into a Raffles hotel.

Hinduja group employs over 150,000 people worldwide. The brother are all devout Hindus and are vegetarian and tee-total. 

However, Sri, 85, has recently become embroiled in a legal battle with his three brothers Gopi, 81, Prakash, 75, and Ashok, 70.

Sri is claiming personal ownership of the Switzerland-based Hinduja Bank, which is overseen by his daughter Shanu and her son Karam.

His brothers have contested this claim and argue their eldest sibling has dementia.   

#2 Sir James Dyson and family – £23billion

Age: 74 

Industry: Vacuums and tech

Sir James revolutionised cleaning in the late 1970s by inventing a vacuum this uses a cyclone to suck up dirt.

Today he employs more than 5,800 engineers worldwide, and was a vocal backer of Brexit. 

He now lives at Dodington Estate in Gloucestershire, a 300-acre Georgian estate, built in the early 19th century by James Wyatt, and recognised as being of ‘exceptional architectural and historic interest’.

#3 David and Simon Reuben – £22billion

Industry: Property and internet 

For billionaires, the Mumbai-born brothers are notoriously secretive. 

They decline interviews, and don’t like it when details about their lives are leaked.  

However, ahead of Christmas, David and Reuben bought the 189-room hotel The Surrey in Manhattan for an estimated $151 million.  

They also have a stake in Miami’s Turnberry Resort, which has boasted past celebrity guests such as Bing Crosby and Luciano Pavarotti.

The brothers, who came to Britain in the 1950s, have also invested in buildings let to luxury brands such as Tiffany, Armani and Alexander McQueen in the US.

Elsewhere, they have invested in property in Mallorca and Spain. 

It is understood they plan to build hundreds of luxury resorts in their place, reports the Sunday Times.  

#4 – Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £20billion

Age: 63 

Industry: Music and chemicals 

The Ukrainian-born magnate sits atop an empire that spans from entertainment to chemicals.

After graduating from Colombia University with a degree in computer science, he made investments in Russian energy companies following the fall of the Soviet Union.

In 2013 he sold his stake in oil company TNK-BP, netting him more than £5billion.  Two years prior, he had bought Warner Music for £2.4billion. 

The philanthropist currently lives in London and has donated to UK institutions including Oxford University, which named its Blavatnik School of Government after him.

He has also donated to both U.S. Republicans and Democrats, including to Donald Trump’s presidential inaugural committee.

#5 – Guillaume Pousaz- £19billion

Age: 40

Industry: Finance. Founder of Checkout.com

Geneva-born former beach bum Guillaume Pousaz has made around £13billion in a year from a service millions use each day without knowing.

He set up  payments giant Checkout.com, which helps companies sell online from Netflix subscriptions to Deliveroo orders.

The former investment banker gave up work and studying after his father died of cancer – and went to California to surf for approaching six months instead. 

He said previously: ‘I thought to myself: ‘I need a break and time to reconsider what I want to do with life’.  He later said: ‘It seemed like a good option for me to change my very Swiss life.’ 

When he was 30 he spent $350,000 buying a business based in Mauritius processing transactions for Visa and Mastercard. And then he launched his own business, Checkout.com, in London. 

 

Rishi’s wife’s global empire: Billionaire heiress boasts properties worth £15m as well as £727m shares in her father’s Bangalore-based IT firm – and has links to tax-reducing Mauritian company that owns Jamie’s Italian and Wendy’s in India

The extraordinary £15million property portfolio and £700million-plus fortune Rishi Sunak shares with his recently non-dom wife was laid bare by MailOnline last month.

The Chancellor’s hopes of being Prime Minister have been badly damaged by the revelation that his wife Akshata Murty, who lives with him and their two children in Downing Street and moved to the UK permanently in 2013, is probably paying more tax abroad.

Ms Murty, who is wealthier than the Queen as heiress to her father’s IT firm, is registered as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes, a legal way to avoid paying taxes in Britain on overseas income. The status is often used by the super-wealthy to save thousands or even millions of pounds in tax.

Akshata also owns other investments, including a business that funnels investments through Mauritius. International Market Management is funding the expansion of franchise restaurants in India, including Jamie Oliver’s Italian chain that failed in the UK and US burger brand Wendy’s. This entirely legal structure allows them to reduce taxes paid in India.

The couple have at least four properties. A £1million flat in Kensington, a nearby mews house worth £7million and a £2million mansion in Rishi’s Yorkshire constituency, where he is nicknamed the ‘Maharaja of the Dales’. They also have a £5.5million penthouse in California, overlooking Santa Monica pier, which they use in the holidays.

Homes

Kensington Mews – worth £7million      

Rishi and Akshata’s five-bedroom West London property, tucked away in an exclusive corner of Kensington has been described as the couple’s main home, although they have spent most of their time in the two-bed Downing Street flat that comes with the Chancellor’s job.

An insider has said the family live above No 10 because his security people ‘won’t allow anything else’.

The couple have made a huge profit on their mews, having bought it for £4.5million, reportedly in cash, in 2010 – a year after they married in India.

The Kensington house has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and two reception rooms spread across four storeys, as well as access to a private garden.      

Kensington flat – worth £1million 

Rishi Sunak bought a first floor flat in the heart of Kensington, which is understood to be kept empty.

He and Akshata are reported to leave it free for friends and visiting relatives to use when visiting the capital.

It sits in a block on a busy road in West London road, close to a Tube station. 

Rishi Sunak’s Yorkshire home – £2million

The family also own a remote country abode in  a Yorkshire village. 

Set on a 12-acre plot of land near Northallerton, the Georgian mansion is thought to cost around £1.5million, boasting an ornamental lake and a recently built pool on the property. It is now said to be worth £500,000 more than they paid for it. 

The multi-millionaire Chancellor and his wife are to build a mini leisure complex in the grounds of their £2million manor house in Yorkshire.

Councillors have approved plans for a new building on farmland to house a swimming pool, gym and shower facilities, along with an adjoining outdoor tennis court.

No doubt the Chancellor will be keen to get value for money, but even at a conservative estimate the project is likely to cost more than £400,000.

But that won’t trouble the former hedge fund financier, whose wife Akshata is a fashion designer and daughter of an Indian tech billionaire.

The couple, who have two daughters, often spend weekends at the Grade II-listed 19th century former vicarage in his North Yorkshire constituency.

And once the L-shaped building, complete with stone walls and Welsh slate roof, is completed there will be no shortage of healthy and fun activities for them to do.

Mr Sunak plans to build a 40ft by 16ft indoor pool. In the same building will be a gym which will contain a mirrored wall and ballet barre, perhaps for his daughters.

There’s also going to be a television fixed to the wall nearby, enabling them to follow fitness or dance videos.

The Chancellor has previously admitted being a devotee of keeping fit on a Peloton bike – which costs £1,750, plus a monthly membership of £39 – and a treadmill.

Santa Monica, California – £5.5million

The penthouse flat, which the couple are reported to be visiting over the Easter holidays, is valued at £5.5million ($7.2m) 

It boasts panoramic views of the world-famous Santa Monica pier and the Pacific ocean. Ms Murthy bought the apartment – one of four in the Waverly complex on Ocean Avenue – directly from the developer in June 2014 for an undisclosed fee. But it will be less than it’s worth now.

The property is described as their holiday home, with his wife and two children believed to spend some of the school holidays there.    

Business interests  

Infosys – shares worth £727million

Akshata Murty, the Chancellor’s wife, owns 0.93pc or 39m shares in Infosys, the Indian technology company founded by her billionaire father.

Her stake is worth about £727m today, an increase of more than £200m compared to a year ago due to a jump in the share price. 

The company is headquartered in Bangalore. 

In the past year Infosys made two dividend payments that would have netted Ms Murthy around £11.7million through her 0.93 per cent holding in the company.

As per the Indian domestic income-tax laws, dividend income from shares of an Indian company is subject to tax at 20%. 

Mauritius – £500,000 investment

According to the Guardian, Ms Murthy bought a 5 per cent share in International Market Management (IMM) for £500,000 in 2014. 

IMM is said to funnel its investments through a ‘letterbox’ in Mauritius – with no staff – to reduce the taxes paid in India. While this is not illegal, this system is controversial because it will reduce tax liability.

IMM was founded in 2014 by David Stewart with funding for the company raised from ‘a group of wealthy friends’ including the Chancellor’s wife, the newspaper said.

The company follows a structure where investments are funnelled through an intermediary company – called IMM Associates Mauritius.

They then invest in two Indian subsidiaries which operate restaurants in India. These include Jamie Oliver’s 11 Jamie’s Italian restaurants there. IMM also funds nine Wendy’s burger restaurants in her home country.

Catamaran Ventures – $1bn fund used to store her and her family’s vast personal wealth

Ms Murty is listed on LinkedIn as being director of capital and private equity firm Catamaran Ventures, which is headquartered in Bangalore. Any salary or shares would also be taxed at Indian rates. This was set up by her father in 2010. It has $1billion in assets. It also has an office in London and Boston.

Murthy is also a director of Catamaran Ventures UK, which she set up with her husband, who resigned as a director in 2015 and transferred his shares to his wife. In 2020 Catamaran listed the value of its investments as £3.5 million, up from £1.5 million in 2019. 

But record a net liability position of £226,572 – the difference between its assets and debts – meaning it is reliant on Murthy to meet its financial obligations. She gave her start-up investment company a £4.3 million loan in 2020. 

New and Lingwood – unknown value

Akshata, is the director of the holding company for New & Lingwood, an official outfitter to Eton which offers items such as £2,750 silk dressing gowns.

The London-based firm, owned by a private equity firm, New York based POP Capital, also received money under the Treasury’s multi-billion-pound furlough scheme. 

Rishi Sunak faced questions over his alleged failure to publicly declare the fact that his wife is a director.  

Akshata Designs – Collapsed

After Stanford, she joined a Dutch clean technology incubator fund in San Francisco as marketing director in 2007, but left quickly to start her own fashion label, Akshata Designs, around the time she married Rishi in 2009. 

The business, however, collapsed within three years.

Digme Fitness – collapsed

The high-end fitness chain backed by Rishi Sunak’s millionaire wife collapsed during the pandemic after receiving taxpayer-backed furlough payments of up to £630,000.

Digme Fitness, which called in creditors last month, owes around £6.1million in what is understood to be unpaid VAT and PAYE, and counts Akshata Murthy, 41, among its directors. 

Ms Murthy, the Chancellor’s wife, owned less than five per cent of the company – which went bust after lockdown measures forced it to reinvent itself as an online-only business.