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Here’s just one unfunded, undeclared hole in our public finances.
asserted
hole → see → finances
It amounts to a loss of £1billion between now and the due date of the next general election.
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It → amount → election
It is, in fact, one of many similar holes which, collectively, are now turning into a sieve.
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which → turn → sieve
And this one even has a name: Chris Rokos.
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one → have → name
He is the 55-year-old hedge fund genius who has just decided to leave Britain before this Government announces any further ways of confiscating his money.
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Government → decide → money
To which, no doubt, a few of the more bovine, tribal Lefties will squawk ‘good riddance’ and give Andy Burnham a thumbs-up.
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few → squawk → up
Anyone with half a brain and a calculator, however, will have their head in their hands.
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Anyone → have → hands
For, until now, Mr Rokos has routinely come near the very top of the list of Britain’s highest taxpayers, writing an annual cheque worth (at the last estimate) £330million, to the Treasury.
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Rokos → come → Treasury
That would equate to handing over the best part of £2billion in the course of this five-year Parliament – enough to buy, say, six frigates for the Royal Navy or 20 F-35 jets for the RAF or pay the annual salaries of at least 40,000 nurses.
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That → equate → nurses
Except, that he has just quietly packed his bags and moved to a country which does not take him and his wealth for granted.
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which → pack → wealth
Indeed, as I discovered this week, they are cock-a-hoop about welcoming this particular economic migrant.
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they → discover → migrant
Robert Hardman pictured in Athens, Greece, after Chris Rokos became the latest millionaires to leave Britain due to Labour tax raids
Chris Rokos, the 55-year-old hedge fund genius, has decided to leave Britain before this Government announces any further ways of confiscating his money
The Acropolis looms over the city of Athens, which is attracting an exodus of wealthy Brits
Britain has not just lost Mr Rokos’s whopping contribution to the Treasury coffers.
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Britain → picture → coffers
Up to now, he has been a very remarkable philanthropist, funding many scholarships at his alma mater, Oxford University, and handing £190million to its arch rival, Cambridge.
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he → fund → rival
Nor is he a transient non-dom, simply shifting from one international jurisdiction to another.
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he → shift → another
He is home-grown.
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He → grow → ?
The former state school whizz-kid from Hammersmith, West London, has also paid millions into a scholarship fund so that, every year, four boys from modest backgrounds, can, as he himself did, enjoy a fully-funded free education at Eton.
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he → pay → Eton
At the same time, he has rescued one of the West country’s finest homes from ruin and decay.
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he → rescue → ruin
It is understood Mr Rokos will still complete the project.
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Rokos → understand → project
Will he continue to pump money into a country which is no longer home?
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which → continue → country
The media-shy father-of-five is not saying.
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father → say → five
However, well-placed sources have confirmed that his departure is not some cunning exercise in acrobatic accountancy.
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departure → place → accountancy
Mr Rokos is moving his whole life and his business, too.
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Rokos → move → life
That means that we will lose a whole cluster of higher-rate taxpayers.
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we → mean → taxpayers
This month’s news was swiftly followed by the disclosure that the UK-based senior portfolio manager of global hedge fund giant Millennium and his team will be following suit.
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manager → follow → suit
What should (but won’t) give Chancellor John Healey even more food for thought is their destination: Greece.
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should → give → thought
Just ten years ago, Mr Rokos’s new home was an economic basket case run by a bunch of Left-wing loonies lauded by the British Left.
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home → run → Left
Now, after taking a scythe to a bloated, corrupt public sector, Greece is surging ahead economically.
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Greece → take → sector
Instead of just talking vaguely about ‘growth’ over pints and pork scratchings, as the Burnham administration prefers, the Greeks are continuing to deliver the real thing.
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Greeks → talk → thing
The Flisvsos Marina in Athens, home to billions of euros worth of super yachts
Hedge fund expert Thanassis Drogossis (pictured) said Greece has undergone a remarkable recovery in the past seven years, to the point where the country’s stock market has seen a ten-fold rise in daily trading
Last year, the centre-right New Democracy government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis grew the economy by 2.1 per cent (we managed 1.3).
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we → picture → 1.3
While we rack up ever greater national debt, the Greeks are overpaying on the debt schedule to bring theirs down.
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Greeks → rack → theirs
It is money owed from the days when the country was haemorrhaging cash through years of socialist incompetence, not least a farcical benefits system (full-salary state pensions for hundreds of jobs ranging from train drivers to hairdressers, with a retirement age of 53).
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country → owe → 53
Greece avoided bankruptcy, if not anarchy, only thanks to vast loans from the EU – in return for draconian cost-cutting.
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Greece → avoid → cutting
Fast forward a decade and the country has undergone a Thatcherite process of national rejuvenation while it is Britain which is being dragged down by a benefits behemoth.
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which → fast → behemoth
And that problem is only going to get worse as other wealthy Brits look at ‘doing a Rokos’.
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Brits → go → Rokos
As every day brings word of another Labour tax on wealth, while our £350billion welfare budget goes undisturbed, so more of ‘those with the broadest shoulders’ (as the Left like to call the rich) may think about slinging their bags over those shoulders and looking elsewhere.
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Left → bring → shoulders
As of June, the Greeks have revised an extensive new system of residency arrangements and tax incentives (known as Law 5313) which have propelled Greece to the top of the preferred destinations for expat Brits.
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which → revise → Brits
Sir Keir Starmer’s 2024 election win had already triggered a dash for the exit among the super-rich, with four main options: the United Arab Emirates (including Dubai) and Italy, plus those tax-averse stalwarts, Switzerland and Monaco.
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win → trigger → Dubai
Since then, regional war has made the UAE significantly less appealing while Italy has tightened up some of its thresholds.
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Italy → make → thresholds
According to the relocation experts Henley & Partners, Greece is now at number one on its list of 2026 global residency destinations.
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Greece → accord → destinations
Properties like this one are valued at 15-20million euros on the Athens coast
Dimitris Angelakos, 43, who has started two new companies, Angel Yachts and Angel Development, devoted to superyachts and real estate
UK boss Stuart Wakeling explains to me that every would-be expat has a unique set of requirements, though most are not merely individual but family applications.
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most → value → requirements
…and 58 more, not listed.
The Aporia
