Rishi Sunak is the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after the resignation of Liz Truss the past week.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer of the second Johnson government is one of the leading members of the British Conservative party and is the new premier who will take office at 10 Downing Street.
Let’s find out who Sunak is, from his origins to his political career. For the first time, a Prime Minister of Indian origin.
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Who is Rishi Sunak, the new British Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton on May 12, 1980. His origins are Indian although his parents were born in Kenya and Tanzania. Of Hindu religion, he has always been among the promoters of Global Britain. Sunak has always described himself as 100 per cent British as he was born and raised in the United Kingdom.
From an early age he had a strong leaning towards mathematics, which in time led him to cultivate a passion for Economics. Sunak attended Oxford University and then flew overseas to further his studies at the prestigious Stanford University, where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, daughter of the sixth richest man in India.
Sunak’s political career: from the House of Commons to the duel with Liz Truss to becoming Prime Minister
His political career began not too many years ago, in 2015. In that year he was appointed as a Member of Parliament for the House of Commons. Re-elected in 2018 in the same House, he served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Local Government. In 2020, given the admiration of Boris Johnson, he was appointed Minister for the Economy.
Initially, his face was known to few and not everyone had confidence in Sunak. Over the years, especially during the pandemic, he proved to be an able Minister as he managed the economic challenges caused by Brexit and the Coronavirus pandemic.
On the subject of Brexit, Sunak has always been in favour by completely espousing the party line but has been among the most moderate politicians open to debate. In 2022, as a loyalist of Boris Johnson, he was among those responsible for the fall of the Tory government.
The famous initiative that saved British restaurateurs during the Coronavirus pandemic
Rishi Sunak is remembered for an initiative that helped many traders, especially in the restaurant business during the Coronavirus pandemic. We are talking about the ‘Eat out to Help out’ initiative.
The former economics minister asked the British people to eat out to help restaurateurs who were struggling due to the continuous lockdowns imposed by the British government to stem the various waves of Covid-19.
But how did it help the restaurateurs? For those who took part in Sunak’s proposed scheme, there was a refund for the deals given. Consumers, on the other hand, could enjoy a 50% discount on food and non-alcoholic drinks.
