Who is Rishi Sunak, UK new prime minister?

Who is Rishi Sunak? What does it mean that he became UK new prime minister?

Rishi Sunak is now the new leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, the Torys. He is Britain’s next prime minister after both the leading candidates considered his rivals in the race to replace Liz Truss withdrew before a single vote on Monday.

Sunak is broadly known as a moderate and pragmatic politician, he emerged in the latest leadership contest after the resignation of Boris Johnson earlier in summer, as a safe choice and a good pair of hands to guide the UK. After Liz Truss’ policy around tax cuts and spending shook the government’s credibility and spooked markets, Sunak remerged again.

Sunak’s political career began as soon as he entered Parliament in 2015. He was originally a banker, Boris Johnson appointed him just five years later as finance minister which is a role formally known as chancellor of the Exchequer, the UK’s Treasury.

Sunak will be the first British from Asian origins to become prime minister and the first nonwhite to take the top job. Aged 42, he will also be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years. Both his parents are of Indian origin.

It is only seven weeks since Sunak lost the top job in front of Liz Truss in this year’s first Tory leadership contest, following Boris Johnson’s resignation amid a swirl of scandal in July.

Supporters say men like Sunak will be viewed as role models by the UK’s South Asian community, particularly those who are looking to enter politics. But Sunak would likely face intense scrutiny, since he himself comes from a particularly privileged background and his wife, an Indian-born IT heiress, was until recently not paying the top rate of British tax as a fully domiciled UK resident.

Rishi Sunak, the third British Prime Minister within only 7 weeks, will face the big challenge of maintaining stability in the United Kingdom after a period of chaotic financial markets and political turmoil.

Immediately after the announcement of Sunak’s winning the position in a fast-paced race on the leadership of the Conservative Party and the government, the UK pound rose against the dollar below 1.128 while the UK benchmark 10-year bond yields rose by 3.82%.

Sunak launched an attack that helped to topple Boris Johnson, positioned himself forward as his replacement, but ultimately lost. Admitting defeat, he retreated to the parliamentary back benches.

Shortly, Sunak has returned triumphant from the political wilderness to replace Truss, whose premiership imploded last week. He was the only leadership hopeful to secure the support of 100 Conservative members of parliament, the necessary threshold set by party officials for potential candidates.   

Speaking after being declared the new Conservative leader, Sunak said he was “honored and humbled” to become the next prime minister. “It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love, and to be able to give back to the country i owe so much to,” Sunak said.

“The United Kingdom is a great country, but there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge,” he added. “We need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”

Like Truss, Sunak promised a tough approach to illegal immigration and vowed to expand the government’s controversial Rwanda immigration policy. Sunak, whose parents came to the UK from East Africa in the 1960s, was born in 1980. His father was a local doctor while his mother ran a pharmacy in southern England, something Sunak says gave him his desire to serve the public.

He will be the first Hindu to become British prime minister, securing the position on Diwali, the festival of lights that marks one of the most important days of the Hindu calendar. Sunak himself made history in 2020 when he lit Diwali candles outside 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the UK chancellor.

He has faced challenges over his elite background, having studied at the exclusive Winchester College, Oxford and Stanford universities. He is known for his expensive taste in fashion and has worked for banks and hedge funds, including Goldman Sachs.

Earlier this year, Sunak and Murty appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List of the UK’s 250 wealthiest people – the newspaper estimated their joint net worth at £730 million ($826 million).