At about the same time, Sunak admitted he had held a US green card – allowing permanent residence in that country – while he was chancellor. A release from his accountants, Evelyn Partners, said that much of the capital gains tax related to a “single, US-based investment fund”.

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The fund was the blind trust into which the prime minister put his investments upon entering government, the accountants said.

Sunak is one of the richest MPs in British Parliament, and his personal wealth is something opposition parties have often used as a political attack line. As prime minister, he is entitled to an annual salary of £164,951, with half made up of a ministerial salary and the other half of the salary – £84,144 – earned as an elected member of parliament.

Earlier this year he sacked his colleague, Nadhim Zahawi, as Conservative Party chairman after he failed to disclose millions of pounds in tax owed. An ethics inquiry ordered by Sunak found Zahawi guilty of a “serious breach” of the ministerial code after he was believed to have paid a penalty as part of an estimated £4.8 million settlement dispute with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

Former Conservative prime minister David Cameron published his tax return in 2016 after revelations about his late father’s offshore fund were revealed in the Panama Papers, a wide-ranging expose of global offshore accounts.

Theresa May also released her tax return during her campaign to be Tory leader in 2016, but did not do so when she was prime minister. Neither Johnson nor Truss published their tax returns.

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