Tories: Displacement of responsibility as a golden rule.

An uncomfortable Chancellor Rishi Sunak finds himself in the middle of a storm because of his family business links to Russia.

Last week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak called on UK companies to “think very carefully” about any investments in Russia that could support Vladimir Putin’s regime – because we are all in this together, right? – and tweeted a video to make his message crystal clear:

“I am urging firms to think very carefully about their investments in Russia and how they may aid the Putin regime – and I am also clear that there is no case for new investment in Russia.

“We must collectively go further in our mission to inflict maximum economic pain – and to stop further bloodshed.”

Alas, Rishi Sunak forgot to mention that Infosys, a multinational IT company partly owned by his wife, Akshata Murthy – the daughter of an Indian billionaire described as the ‘father of the Indian IT sector’ by Time magazine, has continued to operate in Russia as the war rages in Ukraine.

As Sky News newsreader Jayne Secker asked him a few questions about the firm, Rishi Sunak remained both motionless and emotionless. Until he answered awkwardly.

The line “I have nothing to do with that company” sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Remember:

“There was not a party last winter.”

“No rules were broken if a party took place last Christmas at Downing Street.”

“I certainly broke no rules.”

“Nobody warned me it was against the rules.”

Typical lines of a conservative government that operates the displacement of responsibility as their golden rule.

But what would one expect from the Prime Minister-in-waiting who easily admits to Beth Rigby that he goes to bed every night knowing that he “can’t solve all the problems that people want me to.”

Why does he even bother, then?

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Sources

• Text: This piece was first published in [the brief] on 24 March 2022.
• Cover: Flickr/Number 10 - Simon Dawson. - Chancellor of Exchequer Rishi Sunak Spring Statement. | 23 March 2022. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)