CHARLIE MULLINS, the world’s richest plumber, is selling his £12million London home as he prepares to quit the UK.
Mullins is also selling his cars, his investments, and even closing down his British bank account.
The working-class lad from London, who founded Pimlico Plumbers — which he sold for £145million in 2021 — is working towards having “no assets in the UK whatsoever”.
“I’ll have no investments here,” he says. “I think my last tax bill is January and that’s me done.”
Self-made Mullins is leaving the country he loves before this Labour government starts raiding his hard-earned fortune.
He is particularly concerned by reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is going to massively hike inheritance tax in next month’s budget.
“I’m selling my property because of the inheritance tax,” he says.
“It’s a £12million property — if I lose £6million I’m brown bread (Cockney rhyming slang for dead). The family would go mad.”
Here is the heart of the problem with Labour’s desire to squeeze those with “the broadest shoulders”.
If you squeeze them hard enough, they can always afford to take their wealth elsewhere.
And when those who pay the most taxes could be contributing so much, they end up contributing nothing.
Charlie has paid an estimated £120million in tax over the years.
That pays for a lot of public services.
Labour talks a good game about driving economic growth.
But as she prepares for her tax-barmy Budget next month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to answer this question.
How does driving a wealth-maker like Charlie Mullins into exile help our country?
Charlie was born into real poverty in London’s Elephant And Castle.
He left school at 15 with no qualifications and started his plumbing business from an estate agent’s basement.
And comrades — there is no economic growth without his hard-working kind.
Charlie’s son Scott Mullins is launching a new business called WeFix — “the Harrods of the handyman world” — with Charlie’s eldest grandson Ashley as managing director.
Charlie himself is not on the payroll because “I’m not prepared to give the Government another penny of my money”.
WeFix could well be another Mullins family success story and will pay its taxes in the UK.
But Charlie predicts his son’s company could follow him into reluctant exile if Labour continue what he perceives as their virulently anti-business agenda.
“None of this gives me any pleasure,” says Charlie.
“I have always loved Britain, and the prospect of leaving my country makes me very sad indeed.”
And it should sadden all of us.
Because our future prosperity is built on the grafters, dreamers, hard-working visionaries, van drivers, the self- employed, the businessmen — big, small and everything in between — who start out with nothing.
The problem is not that this government does not understand aspiration, ambition, or self-improvement.
The problem is — they despise it.
But if Labour believe they can ever have economic growth without the likes of Charlie Mullins, they are out of their tiny minds.
I AM among those who found the film by Kate Middleton telling us she is free of cancer to be incredibly moving.
Some pundits disagree.
But she did not make the film for them.
I suspect she made it for her three children.
The sense of relief in it was palpable.
Every frame told us that here was a woman who is grateful to be alive.
CHRIS EUBANK JR, the most thoughtful of our boxers, says he can feel the impact the sport is having on his brain.
“I definitely notice it,” Chris says.
“I forget things more than I used to a couple of years ago. And that comes from taking blows to the head. That’s something I’m very aware of. I can quite literally feel it.”
Yet Eubank continues to fight – a warm-up in Riyadh next month after a 13-month lay-off, then possible fights against old foe Billy Joe Saunders and Canelo Alvarez.
And boxing fans, like me, will continue to watch.
Even though the physical toll is difficult to justify, and impossible to deny.
Boxing has not changed.
What has changed is that, in Chris Eubank Jr, the sport finally has a spokesman who is honest enough to talk about the price that is paid.
ONE major thing wrong with the statue of our late Queen that has just been unveiled in Belfast.
It looks nothing like her.
The “Prince Philip” figure chaperoning the bronze statue also looks nothing like the late Duke of Edinburgh, either.
Even the corgis look like they belong to some other breed.
The Queen looks like Robin Williams playing Mrs Doubtfire.
Prince Philip looks like Dr Who’s Matt Smith.
And the corgis look like possibly rabid German Shepherds.
Local Mayor Neil Kelly describes the Belfast aberration as a “beautiful statue”.
I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that is ridiculous.
Why do they continue to commission these monstrosities?
There is a nothing-like-her statue of Princess Diana in Kensington Gardens with arms around two small children that looks like something out of a cloying Michael Jackson video.
Nearby is the Diana Memorial Playground with a full-sized pirate ship that is enjoyed by one million visitors every year.
Which memorial better honours Diana’s memory?
JAMES EARL JONES, who has died at the age of 93, had an incredible voice, and an incredible life.
Raised by his grandparents in rural Mississippi, James was mocked by his schoolmates for his stutter and hardly said a word for eight years.
Then a teacher encouraged him to read one of his poems to the class.
He became the school’s champion speaker.
And although James had plenty of success as an actor, appearing in big hits like Conan The Barbarian and Coming To America, we know him best for two iconic voiceovers – Darth Vader in Star Wars, and Mufasa in The Lion King.
James’ voice was impossibly commanding – rich, deep, and capable of conveying both cosmic threat and unconditional love.
“His portrayal of Mufasa was absolute perfection, teaching a generation what fatherhood is all about,” said Lion King co-director Rob Minkoff. “He lives in all of us.”
Especially Luke Skywalker.
TAYLOR SWIFT faced social media fury when she hugged Brittany Mahomes at the US Open in New York.
Taylor’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, and Brittany’s husband, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, both play for the Kansas City Chiefs.
The women are pals.
But Brittany is a Trump supporter while Taylor endorses Kamala.
Are we really being told we can only be friends with those we agree with?
Some of us would have no friends left.
AMERICA innovates, China replicates, Europe regulates,” says Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Wow.
As a devastating analysis of the European Union’s economic decline, that will take some beating.
TWO matches into his tenure, the new interim England manager Lee Carsley has a striking record.
Two wins, no goals conceded, and his lips firmly closed during the singing of two renditions of the National Anthem.
Does it matter that the England manager refuses to sing the National Anthem?
God Save The King is a statement of national pride and unity.
It seems weird, and slightly sad, when the England manager – of all people! – doesn’t want to sing along.
But this is not North Korea, folks, and singing the National Anthem can never be compulsory.
At least Lee’s not booing!
