Rich List Rishi Sunak 'could do anything with his life but he serves his country'

23 May 2022, 08:40 | Updated: 23 May 2022, 09:21

Minister: Rishi could do anything with his life but chose to be an MP

Rishi Sunak chooses to be an MP when he could be doing "anything" else, a minister has told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.

Tory MP Simon Clarke was asked how appropriate it was to have a Chancellor with as much money as he does, after Mr Sunak made the Sunday Times Rich List with a wealth of £730m.

Mr Clarke said MPs should be judged on their "performance" rather than their "personal circumstances", and said: "Ultimately he could be doing almost anything with his life and he chooses to serve this country, and he works ferociously hard, and I think he does a brilliant job and for me, his personal circumstances are beside the point."

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The MP also said he judged "the Chancellor by his ability to lead the country's finances".

"Well it's going well with inflation, isn't it?" quipped Nick.

"That's a cracking job."

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Mr Clarke, who is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, went on: "The Chancellor is the person who made sure that we didn't lose millions of jobs during the horrors of the pandemic and his furlough scheme saved something like 12 million people from losing their jobs.

"He's obviously someone of exceptional abilities and anyone who sees how hard he works and the natural and acquired aptitude he brings to the job can see that he is a first class parliamentarian."

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He added: "I don't think that any politician should be defined by their personal circumstances.

"They should be defined by their performance in their job, and I know that's the spirit in which Rishi approaches this.

"Ultimately I don't think that we would disqualify anyone on the basis that they had too little money in the bank, and I don't think we should disqualify Rishi on the basis that he's obviously very fortunate.

"But he brings a real sense of public service to this role."