Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 25 October 2022.[1] He was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Boris Johnson government from 2020 to 2022.[2] He is a member of the Conservative Party and has been a Member of Parliament since the 2015 general election.

The Right Honourable

Rishi Sunak

MP
Sunak in 2023
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Assumed office
25 October 2022
MonarchCharles III
DeputyDominic Raab
Oliver Dowden
Preceded byLiz Truss
Leader of the Conservative Party
Assumed office
24 October 2022
ChairmanNadhim Zahawi
Greg Hands
Richard Holden
Preceded byLiz Truss
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
13 February 2020 – 5 July 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded bySajid Javid
Succeeded byNadhim Zahawi
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
24 July 2019 – 13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byLiz Truss
Succeeded bySteve Barclay
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government
In office
9 January 2018 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byMarcus Jones
Succeeded byLuke Hall
Member of Parliament
for Richmond (Yorks)
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byWilliam Hague
Majority27,210 (47.2%)
Personal details
Born (1980-05-12) 12 May 1980
Southampton, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Akshata Murty (m. 2009)
Children2
Relatives
EducationLincoln College, Oxford (BA)
Stanford University (MBA)
Websiterishisunak.com

In July 2022, Sunak resigned from his position as Chancellor of the Exchequer in protest against the Boris Johnson government. This caused a government crisis. Sunak later announced his candidacy for Leader of the Conservative Party in the 2022 leadership election.[3] He lost the election to Liz Truss in September. However, a month later, Truss resigned, and Sunak ran again in the second 2022 leadership election. Nobody ran against him, and he became the new Conservative Party leader on 24 October 2022. Sunak is the first non-white, first British Indian, and first Hindu person to become prime minister of the United Kingdom.[4]

Early life

Sunak was born at Southampton General Hospital in Southampton to Indian parents.[5] Sunak went to school at Winchester College. He later studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and went to Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar. After graduating, he worked for Goldman Sachs.

Political career

Sunak was elected for Richmond (Yorks) at the 2015 general election. He was in Theresa May's second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government. He voted for May's Brexit withdrawal agreement three times. After May resigned, Sunak supported Boris Johnson's campaign to become Conservative leader.

After Johnson was elected, he appointed Sunak as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. When Sajid Javid resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunak replaced him in February 2020.

Chancellor of Exchequer

As Chancellor, Sunak handled the government's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and the decision to lockdown. In April 2022, he broke COVID-19 regulations during lockdowns. He was the first Chancellor in British history to be punished for breaking the law while in office. He resigned as Chancellor on 5 July 2022 because he was against Johnson's leadership.[6]

2022 Conservative leadership elections

On 8 July 2022, Sunak announced his candidacy to replace Johnson in the upcoming Conservative party leadership election.[3] On 20 July, after winning the first five rounds of the election, he reached the final round against Liz Truss.[7]

On 5 September 2022, it was announced that Truss had won the election with 81,326 votes while Sunak got 60,399 votes.[8]

A month later, Truss resigned as prime minister in October. Sunak was the front-runner to replace her in the second leadership election of 2022.[9][10] He announced his candidacy on 23 October 2022.[11] On 24 October, he became the only leadership candidate after Boris Johnson said he would not run again and Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the race. He was announced as the new Conservative Party leader.[12]

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Sunak became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 25 October 2022.[1] He is the first non-white person and the first Hindu to become prime minister.[4] With a net worth of £730 million, he is the richest British prime minister since Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby.[13] Most of the people who have been Prime Minister in the past were also rich, although there were a few exceptions. In general, Prime Ministers have more money than most people.

Sunak is also the youngest prime minister since William Pitt the Younger.[14]

In May 2024, Sunak announced that the next general election will be held on 4 July 2024.[15]

Personal life

In 2009, he married fashion designer Akshata Murty.[16] She is the daughter of the Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy and businesswoman Sudha Murty. They have two children.

They live at a manor house in the village of Kirby Sigston, near to Northallerton, North Yorkshire.[17] They also own a mews house in Kensington in central London, a flat in South Kensington, London, and a penthouse apartment in Santa Monica, California.[18]

References
  1. Lawless, Jill (25 October 2022). "Sunak takes over as UK prime minister amid economic crisis". AP.
  2. Heffer, Greg (18 February 2020). "Budget 2020 to remain on 11 March, new Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirms". Sky News. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  3. "Ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak launches bid to be Conservative leader". BBC News. 8 July 2022.
  4. "Rishi Sunak Is Britain's Next Prime Minister. Here's What To Know". TIME. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  5. "Rishi Sunak's Southampton childhood described in Lord Ashcroft biography | Daily Echo". www.dailyecho.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-10-24. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  6. Media, P. A. (5 July 2022). "Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid's resignation letters in full". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  7. "Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will go head-to-head in the race to become the UK's next prime minister". CNBC. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. Hughes, David (5 September 2022). "Truss wins Tory leadership race and faces daunting challenge as PM". The Independent. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  9. Woodcock, Andrew (20 October 2022). "Rishi Sunak will make second bid for prime minister, allies claim". The Independent. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  10. Cecil, Lydia Chantler-Hicks, Nicholas (2022-10-21). "Rishi Sunak in early lead but Boris Johnson wins Ben Wallace support - all we know". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2022-10-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "Rishi Sunak enters race to replace Liz Truss as UK prime minister". The Guardian. 2022-10-23. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  12. "Rishi Sunak to become UK's PM after Mordaunt joins Johnson in withdrawing". the Guardian. 2022-10-24. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  13. "Rishi Sunak set to become the UK's first non-white prime minister—and its richest". Yahoo. 24 October 2022.
  14. Tolhurst, Alain (24 October 2022). "Rishi Sunak Becoming First British-Asian Prime Minister Seen As "Historic Moment"". politicshome.com. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  15. "UK PM Rishi Sunak set to announce surprise July election as his party seeks to defy dire polls". CNN. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  16. "Akshata Murty: Rishi Sunak's wife and richer than the Queen". The Guardian. 7 April 2022. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  17. "Chancellor Rishi Sunak has new pool, gym and tennis court approved". BBC News. 26 August 2021. Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  18. Gadher, Dipesh. "New chancellor Rishi Sunak adds Downing Street address to his bulging property portfolio". The Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.

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