As the Tory leader in the British parliament after competitor Penny Mordaunt withdrew her complete support, Rishi Sunak became the first politician of Indian descent to govern the United Kingdom. After Boris Johnson withdrew from the leadership race on Sunday evening, Sunak, who had recently lost the race to competitor Liz Truss six weeks prior, received a lot of support from his party members.
By becoming the first British Prime Minister of Indian heritage, the first non-white leader in Britain, and the first Hindu to hold the position, Rishi Sunak has written history. The resignation of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2022 was the catalyst for the demise of the Boris Johnson administration.
Sunak is also the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years at the age of 42.
After Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak becomes Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months. The former finance minister assumes leadership as the nation struggles to recover from years of political and economic unrest.
The wealthy former hedge fund manager is anticipated to implement significant spending cuts in an effort to restore Britain’s fiscal credibility as the nation is being pulled into a recession by rising energy and food prices.
After Truss resigned as prime minister on Thursday in response to the opposition’s renewed call for a general election, Rishi Sunak took to Twitter to declare, “I want to fix our economy, unite our Party and deliver for our country.”
The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis.
That’s why I am standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and your next Prime Minister.
I want to fix our economy, unite our Party and deliver for our country. pic.twitter.com/BppG9CytAK
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 23, 2022
When Boris Johnson announced his resignation six weeks ago, Rishi Sunak had already declared himself for the Tory leadership. Sunak was deemed the winner of the contest, but Liz Truss went on to become the Prime Minister, making Sunak the runner-up.
Sunak, who led the Treasury from 2020 until this summer, managed to keep the British economy from collapsing during the coronavirus outbreak. Sunak played a significant role in the government’s financial reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on the economy, including the Coronavirus Job Retention and Eat Out to Help Out programmes.
The next prime minister was first elected to parliament in 2015. He oversaw public spending as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the finance minister’s deputy.
Sunak attended Winchester College before attending Oxford University to study politics, philosophy, and economics. Additionally, he holds an MBA from Stanford University in the US.
Sunak is married to Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Infosys founder Narayan Murthy, and the couple have two daughters. Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian heritage who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s.
Since voting to leave the European Union in 2016, which sparked a war at Westminster over the future of the nation that is still unresolved to this day, Britain has been stuck in a permanent state of crisis.
