Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak was born on 12 May 1980 in Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom. His parents are of Indian descent and migrated from East Africa to Britain in the 1960s. His father was born in the Kenya Colony in 1949, and his mother was born in the Tanganyika Territory (present-day Tanzania). His paternal grandfather, Ramdas Sunak, migrated from Gujranwala, which is in present-day Pakistan, to Nairobi in 1935. His maternal grandfather, Raghubir Berry, was from Punjab and moved to Tanzania as an engineer. Both of Sunak's parents settled in the UK in 1966, where they met and married in 1977.

Sunak attended Stroud School, a preparatory school in Romsey, and later studied at Winchester College as a dayboy, where he served as head boy. During summer holidays, he worked as a waiter at Kuti's Brasserie in Southampton. He pursued higher education at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, earning a first-class degree in philosophy, politics, and economics in 2001. During his time at Oxford, he joined the Conservative Party and participated in an internship at Conservative Campaign Headquarters. In 2006, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar.

Professionally, Sunak began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2004. He then worked for hedge fund management firm The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI), becoming a partner in September 2006. In November 2009, he joined Theleme Partners, a hedge fund launched in October 2010 with approximately $700 million in assets under management. Sunak was also a director of Catamaran Ventures, an investment firm owned by his father-in-law, N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, from 2013 to 2015.

In October 2014, Sunak was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Richmond (Yorks) constituency, previously held by William Hague. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) in the 2015 general election with a majority of 19,550 votes. During his parliamentary term from 2015 to 2017, he served on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. Sunak supported Brexit during the 2016 referendum, criticizing the EU's immigration laws, and authored reports advocating for free ports and a retail bond market for SMEs.

Sunak was re-elected in the 2017 general election with an increased majority of 23,108 votes, and again in 2019 with a majority of 27,210 votes. Following boundary changes, he was elected in 2024 for the updated Richmond and Northallerton seat, securing a majority of 23,059 votes.

In May 2018, Sunak was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in Theresa May's government. He supported May's Brexit withdrawal agreement and opposed a second referendum. After Boris Johnson's election as Conservative leader in 2019, Sunak supported Johnson's bid and co-wrote articles advocating for his leadership.

In July 2019, Sunak was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In February 2020, he was promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held until 2022. As Chancellor, he played a prominent role in the UK government's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing schemes such as the furlough program and Eat Out to Help Out. His leadership during this period was initially well-received, though his popularity declined amid ongoing economic challenges.

Sunak resigned as Chancellor in July 2022 amid a government crisis and ran for Conservative Party leadership, ultimately losing to Liz Truss. Following Truss's resignation, Sunak was elected unopposed as leader of the Conservative Party and became Prime Minister in 2022. He was the youngest prime minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1812, assuming office at age 42. His tenure included policy priorities such as inflation control, economic growth, debt reduction, NHS waiting list reduction, and migration policies including the Rwanda asylum plan. His foreign policy actions included aid to Ukraine and support for Israel following the October 2023 attacks in Gaza.

Sunak called a general election in July 2024, which resulted in a significant defeat for the Conservative Party, ending 14 years of governance by the party and leading to his departure from the premiership. Subsequently, he served as Leader of the Opposition from July to November 2024, with Kemi Badenoch succeeding him as leader of the Conservative Party. He has indicated intentions to remain as a backbench MP for the upcoming five years, and in 2025, returned to Goldman Sachs as a senior advisor.