Rishi Sunak has entered Downing Street at Britain’s new prime minister after winning the latest Conservative Party leader battle, succeeding Liz Truss after her short but disastrous reign.
Mr Sunak finds himself the UK’s first ever Hindu to hold the highest office in the land and the UK’s youngest PM since 1812.
He is also be one of the richest politicians to enter No 10.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List, Mr Sunak and his wife, Indian tech billionaire’s daughter Akshata Murty, are worth £730m.
The MP for Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales previously served as chancellor under Boris Johnson, meaning he has experience at the top levels of government.
He oversaw the government’s furlough scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic and drew up plans for the cost of living payments being given to people to help them cover sky high energy, fuel and food prices.
Mr Sunak was first elected to parliament just seven years ago in 2015 and his rise to the top has been swift.
He was promoted to the role of parliamentary undersecretary at the now-defunct Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by Mr Johnson in 2019.
Just a year later, he got another promotion to chief secretary of the Treasury and was then made chancellor by Mr Johnson in 2020.
Prior to entering Parliament, Mr Sunak worked as an investment banker and it was his experience in the industry that qualified him for the role of overseeing the nation’s finance.
Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata, whom he married in 2009, is the daughter of NR Narayana Murthy, founder of the Indian multinational IT services company Infosys, who is worth an estimated £3.8bn. She is reported to have a £690m stake in the family firm.
While Mr Sunak and his wife have a combined worth of more than £700m the new prime minister made his own fortune while working in the City.
After studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University, Mr Sunak would go on to work as an analyst for Goldman Sachs before joining a series of hedge funds.
In speeches after he was announced as the leadership contest winner, Mr Sunak vowed to unify his divided party and warned of the “profound economic challenge” ahead.
He also paid tribute to his humiliated predecessor Ms Truss, telling the nation: “I would like to pay tribute to Liz Truss for her dedicated public service to the country.
”She has led with dignity and grace through a time of great change and under exceptionally difficult circumstances both at home and abroad.
”I am humbled and honoured to have the support of my parliamentary colleagues and to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party.
”It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I live and to give back to the country I owe so much to.”
