Isabel Oakeshott has moved to Dubai with her children, claiming that Labour’s decision to impose VAT on private schools prompted the relocation.
The Observer reports that the journalist moved to Dubai with her kids some months ago, meaning her partner Richard Tice – the deputy leader of Reform UK – has been splitting his time between the United Arab Emirates and his constituency of Boston and Skegness.
He said: “She has been based out there for a few months … I occasionally go there and she occasionally comes here.”
Oakeshott is working from Dubai as international editor at Talk TV and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph.
Bizarrely though, one of the main reasons she has cited for her family’s move to Dubai is Labour’s private school VAT hike.
One of Labour’s manifesto pledges ahead of last year’s election was to remove the VAT exemption on private school fees, with the policy coming into effect on January 1.
Oakeshott has labelled the policy as “pernicious” and has decided the best way to save money on school fees is by moving 3,500 miles across the globe to one of the world’s most expensive cities.
She claimed the policy had “prompted her to look elsewhere for the best places to educate her children.”
In a post on X, Otto English said it was the “standout most bonkers thing” about Oakeshott’s move.
Replying to the post, one user pointed out that Oakeshott had previously written about spending £500,000 on childcare, adding that the VAT on private schools “seems [like] chicken feed in comparison.”
Another wrote: “Pay Vat or buy/rent a place in Dubai, plane tickets, transport costs for all her family’s stuff and storage costs for everything they don’t take plus multiple plane tickets for her partner to come see her…..seems simpler and cheaper just to pay the VAT.”
And plenty of others couldn’t help but point out the irony of a right-wing ‘patriot’ such as Oakeshott deciding to up sticks and live abroad to avoid paying more tax.
Related: Badenoch wages war on the only demographic her party can rely on