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Rishi Sunak

About Rishi Sunak

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Who is Rishi Sunak?

Rishi Sunak scripted history when he was appointed by King Charles III as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party on Diwali. The 42-year-old former Chancellor of Exchequer, a devout Hindu, is the youngest British prime minister in 210 years. He is also the first Hindu Prime Minister of Indian heritage in the UK. Sunak has been a member of the Conservative Party for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.

Life and education
Sunak was born in Southampton on May 12, 1980, to Indian parents Yashvir and Usha Sunak in East Africa. His grandparents were born in British India's Punjab province. They migrated to the UK from East Africa in the 1960s with their children.
 
Sunak studied at Winchester College and read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Lincoln College, Oxford, in 2001. The 42-year-old also did his MBA as a Fulbright Scholar from Standford University in 2006
 
The Yorkshire MP married Akshata Murty, daughter of Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy, in 2009 and has two children with her.
 
Career
Sunak worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs as an analyst between 2001 and 2004.
 
He has also worked for the hedge fund management firm The Children's Investment Fund Management and became a partner of the company in 2006. He joined Theleme Partners in 2010.
 
Sunak was also a director of Catamaran Ventures, an investment firm owned by his father-in-law.
 
He was selected as the Conservative candidate for Richmond (Yorks) in October 2014. He was the head of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Research Unit of the think tank Policy Exchange in the same year.
 
In 2015, he became MP from the constituency with a majority of 36.2 per cent votes.
 
From 2015-17, he was a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
 
Sunak was re-elected from his seat in the 2017 general elections. From 2018 to 2019, he served as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government.
 
In 2019, he was appointed Chief Secretary to Treasury by Boris Johnson and also became a member of the Privy Council. He was re-elected in the 2019 general election.
 
Sunak, on July 5, 2022, resigned from his post along with minister Sajid Javid, expressing a lack of confidence in Johnson's leadership.
 
Later that week, Sunak announced his prime ministerial bid, and topped the first two rounds of the race within the Conservative party. 

Latest Updates on Rishi Sunak

Murty joined Sunak and her daughter Akshata Murty as the guest of honour at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's annual Diwali gala in London on Saturday evening

Updated On: 17 Nov 2024 | 8:09 PM IST

Gujarati-origin Patel, 52, was one of the early contenders who went head-to-head in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory chief and Leader of the Opposition

Updated On: 05 Nov 2024 | 8:05 PM IST

The shadow secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government began by thanking her predecessor who was the first British Indian leader of the party

Updated On: 02 Nov 2024 | 6:05 PM IST

Three children six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar died as a result of the attack at The Hart Space community centre

Updated On: 01 Aug 2024 | 2:58 PM IST

Long-remembered leaders desist from trashing their predecessors

Updated On: 26 Jul 2024 | 10:15 PM IST

David Cameron, a former prime minister who was parachuted into the House of Lords by Sunak to become his foreign secretary last year, has resigned

Updated On: 09 Jul 2024 | 2:58 PM IST

The Labour Party secured 412 seats in the 650-member House of Commons, up 211 from the 2019 elections

Updated On: 06 Jul 2024 | 11:39 PM IST

Sharma was among seven nominations made by outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak for his customary Dissolution Peerages

Updated On: 06 Jul 2024 | 5:18 PM IST

Starmer has said there will be no change to Britain's staunch support for Ukraine, and has pledged to increase UK military spending to 2.5% of GDP - though he hasn't put a date on it

Updated On: 06 Jul 2024 | 11:40 AM IST

Labour has emerged as the predominant party among People of Indian Origin (PIO) MPs, winning 19 seats, marking a substantial rise compared to previous terms

Updated On: 06 Jul 2024 | 10:14 AM IST

Labour has won 412 seats a 63 per cent majority of the 650 seats in the lower house of Parliament. One seat remains undeclared

Updated On: 06 Jul 2024 | 7:42 AM IST

The Conservatives went from having just two minority MPs in 2005 to 22 in 2019 as well as Britain's first Asian prime minister, who lit Diwali candles outside Downing Street with his family

Updated On: 06 Jul 2024 | 7:23 AM IST

The Labour Party's manifesto promised that its government will seek a new strategic partnership with India, including a FTA

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 10:23 PM IST

Starmer acknowledged that the lack of trust could only be healed by actions, not words and pledged that his government would treat every single person in the country with respect

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 7:05 PM IST

PM Modi also praised outgoing British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak for his admirable leadership of the United Kingdom

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 4:18 PM IST

Truss, whose turbulent 45-day period in power has been blamed by many Conservatives for Thursday's historic defeat, lost her South West Norfolk constituency to Labour candidate, Terry Jermy

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 1:53 PM IST

We will continue the work begun with the UK for our bilateral cooperation, for peace and security in Europe, for the climate and for AI, said French President while congratulating Keir Starmer

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 2:58 PM IST

It's a moment that embodies the fact that, technically at least, the right to govern in the United Kingdom is still derived from royal authority

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 11:31 AM IST

United Kingdom Labour Party highlights: Keir Starmer's Labour Party bagged the victory the UK general election by passing the magic number. Incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak retained his seat

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 3:11 PM IST

Corbyn won the Islington constituency with 24,120 votes, 7,247 more votes than Labour's Indian-origin candidate Praful Nargund, who secured 16,873 votes

Updated On: 05 Jul 2024 | 11:12 AM IST