The richest 1,000 people in Britain have seen their wealth quadruple under Labour, according to The Sunday Times Rich List published today. Even under Gordon Brown’s brief premiership their fortunes have soared by 15%, just as the financial squeeze and faltering house prices have hit ordinary people.
The collective wealth of the 1,000 richest has jumped to £412 billion, up from £99 billion in 1997. Total net wealth during the same period has slightly more than doubled.
“The 11 years of Labour have been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich,” said Philip Beresford, compiler of the list. “Having a friendly Labour government has almost been better than having a Tory one; it has neutered politicians on the left.”
The wealthiest man in Britain is the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal whose fortune has rocketed to £27.7 billion, up from £19.25 billion last year, thanks to strong global demand for steel. Mittal is now the sixth richest person in the world and far ahead of any other billionaire in Britain.
He is followed by Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea football club, on £11.7 billion, and the Duke of Westminster on £7 billion.
The list, which includes people born or based in the UK, reveals that the native British are being overtaken by foreign billionaires. Only six of the top 20 were born in Britain.
They include Sir Philip and Lady Green, worth £4.3 billion; Earl Cadogan and family, worth £2.9 billion; Joe Lewis, the financial trader, worth £2.8 billion; and Sir Richard Branson, whose wealth has fallen by £400m to £2.7 billion.
By contrast, foreign billionaires are making London one of the global capitals for a mobile “superclass”. The highest new entry on the list is Alisher Usmanov, a tycoon with interests in mining, steel, media and banking; he is a close ally of Valdimir Putin, the former Russian president. Usmanov, worth £5.7 billion, is now the largest shareholder in Arsenal football club.
Also a new entry is Leonard Blavatnik, a Russian who made his fortune in oil. He has a £41m home in London and ranks 11th on the list at £3.9 billion. Another arrival from the former Soviet Union is Vladimir Kim, who heads the London-based mining company Kazakhmys. Kim is worth £2.9 billion.
