Who is Rishi Sunak?

It would be fair to say that Boris Johnson’s first cabinet reshuffle has been rather more eventful than anticipated. What was billed as a fairly uncontroversial affair has turned on a high profile clash between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid.

Javid resigned, after refusing to fire all his advisors, and in his place comes Rishi Sunak, formerly the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and a rising star in the young Tory ranks whose ascent has now taken him to the dizzying heights of the second highest office in the land. Javid, Britain’s first Muslim and Punjabi-speaking Chancellor has now been replaced by the first Hindu to serve in the role.

But who is Rishi Sunak?

At the age of 39, he remains a relative newcomer to the elite political scene – he only became a minister for the first time two years ago, when he was appointed as a junior minister in January 2018.

Husband to the daughter of a billionaire, he was selected to be the Conservative Party’s candidate in the safe seat of Richmond (North Yorkshire), succeeding the retiring William Hague at the 2015 General Election. Sunak won the seat, and was also comfortably returned with healthy majorities in 2017 and 2019.

Unlike his predecessor, who voted to Remain within the European Union in the UK’s 2016 referendum, Sunak was a passionate Brexiteer. At the time, Sunak released a statement for the Vote Leave Campaign saying that Britain should leave the EU in order to take back control of immigration and free the UK’s businesses from the restrictions of the Customs Union and its regulations.

“As it can’t control EU immigration, the UK also has to be much tougher on immigration from countries like India and Canada,” he said. “This is irrational and unfair. Irrational because Britain should be welcoming the best people from around the world, not just from Europe; unfair because we are discriminating against countries with whom we have ties of history, language, and culture.”

Sunak’s North Yorkshire constituency voted in favour of leaving the EU by a majority of 54.71%, and as their MP Sunak has persistently voted against EU integration and in favour of Brexit. He voted for all three of Theresa May’s Brexit deals which came before the House in 2019; and he was an early supporter of Boris Johnson’s campaign to lead the Conservative Party.

This early support for Johnson paid off for Sunak, who was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury in July 2019. He has even been described by some senior Tories in the past as the Prime Minister’s “favourite minister”. A competent media performer, Sunak has frequently been used by the Johnson PR team for news interviews. In November, he was even chosen to replace Boris Johnson himself in a 7-way TV election debate.

There are good relations between Sunak and Johnson as well as with the Prime Minister’s grand vizier, Dominic Cummings. They will be hoping that this good relationship will translate into a viable partnership in 10 and 11 Downing Street.

Although Sunak has risen rapidly  through the ministerial hierarchy, he has never had to run a full department. And yet, in under a month’s time, he will be delivering Boris Johnson’s first budget, which is due on 11 March.

So, what character will be taking on this Herculean task? On his official website as the MP for Richmond (Yorks), he describes himself as someone who is “passionate about ensuring everybody has access to a great education”. No controversy there. In his free time, he enjoys keeping fit and watching cricket.

Sunak was born in Southampton, Hampshire. His grandparents were born in Punjab, India, and eventually settled in the UK in the 1960s after first migrating to East Africa. His father was an NHS family GP and his mum ran her own local chemist shop.

He told an interviewer in 2019 that “British Indian is what I tick on the census”, explaining that “I am thoroughly British, this is my home and my country, but my religious and cultural heritage is Indian, my wife is Indian. I am open about being Hindu.”

He says that his parents “sacrificed a great deal” for his education and he is humble about his good fortune. And, indeed, Sunak’s schooling is out of the top drawer – he attended the world-class hothouse that is Winchester College, where he was head boy. The independent school, founded in the fourteenth century, includes as an alumnus none other than the great former Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Gaitskell.

Sunak then went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and he has an MBA from Stanford University.

It was at Stanford, in California, that Sunak met his wife, Akshata Murthy, who he has been married to since 2009. Murthy, 39, was born and educated in Bangalore before graduating from McKenna College in California. The two now live in their family home in Kirby Sigston with their two young daughters.

Murthy briefly worked for Tendris, a Dutch cleantech Incubator Fund as a marketing director and she now runs her own clothing line, which she launched in 2009. In 2013 she became the director of Catamaran Ventures, which is owned by her father Narayana Murthy – India’s sixth-richest man, who is estimated to have a net worth of $2.5 billion according to Forbes.

Sunak sought to turn his hand to politics after a successful career in business. After university, he spent time as an analyst working for the investment bank, Goldman Sachs, and he later worked or the hedge fund TCI.

He was successful in business in his own right, albeit briefly, having co-founded his own firm – Theleme Partners LLP – which provides investment management and advisory services in the UK. Sunak has said that his company has advised enterprises “from Silicon Valley to Bangalore”. He was also a director at his father-in-law’s investment firm, Catamaran Ventures.

Sunak will have to bring all of this experience to bear upon the challenges ahead in order to negotiate the trials and tribulations of the Chancellorship under a powerful, assertive Prime Minister. Having climbed the greasy pole to the top with stunning speed, he will know that there is a long way to fall should he not succeed.