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THE ORANGE SQUEEZE


After last November’s presidential


election, a wave of American HNWs upped sticks and moved to the UK. But is it all about Trump?


Words RUPERT NEATE Illustration BARBARA GIBSON S


o many wealthy Americans have moved to the UK since the re-election of President Trump that it has been dubbed the ‘in- vasion of the Donald Dashers’. A chunk of them are celebrities, including Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and billionaire designer and film director Tom Ford.


Among the thousands of other recent American arrivals are lesser-known creative types, bankers, lawyers, tech workers, technology entrepre- neurs and very wealthy students. They all have two things in common: they want to move to the UK, but they’re very reluctant to talk about it. Spear’s reached out to more than a dozen recent American arrivals;


none would talk on the record. Few would even speak off the record. An executive at a large US tech company who spoke on the condition


of anonymity says she asked her employer to transfer her from Silicon Valley to London on 6 November 2024 (the day aſter Trump’s election victory). She says the problem is ‘you’ve got no idea what he [Trump] might do if he finds out’ the identities of individuals or companies who are critical of him. ‘We all know how vindictive he is. I love my country, but I just couldn’t stay there any longer – the things he is doing to minor- ity groups breaks my heart.’ The tech executive (whom I will call ‘Jackie’) and her family moved


into a rented house in Belsize Park earlier this year while they look to buy a place. ‘You get a lot more for your dollar here than in Silicon Valley,’ she says. Jackie and her family can reside in the UK as she works here. The plan


is to live in London for at least five years. That would allow her to apply for ‘indefinite leave to remain’, and eventually British citizenship. ‘I know this is where I want to be, and where I want my children to grow up. It’s a much more liberal, open-minded and progressive place. And


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