Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak is a British politician, currently serving as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is the youngest Prime Minister of UK in modern history. Sunak is a member of the Conservative Party. Rishi represents Richmond (Yorks) parliamentary constituency and has been winning this seat since 2015. Richmond (Yorks) parliamentary constituency has been a stronghold of the Conservative Party since 1930s. It is among the oldest parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom.

In 2015 general election in Richmond (Yorks), Rishi Sunak defeated his nearest rival Matthew Cooke of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) by a margin of more than 17k votes. It was an easy win, as Sunak received 51.4% of the votes whereas Cooke received 15.2%. Labour Party candidate Mike Hill stood third in this election with vote share of 13.2%.

In 2017 general election, Rishi Sunak improved his vote share to 63.9%. He defeated Dan Perry of Labour Party by a margin of more than 23 thousand votes. In 2019 general election from Richmond (Yorks), Sunak witnessed a marginal dip of 0.3% in vote share. However, he was comfortably ahead of Labour Party candidate Thomas Kirkwood, who received 16.4% votes.

Early life, education and professional career

Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton, Hampshire on May 12, 1980. He was born to Yashvir and Usha Sunak, who are of Indian Punjabi descent. They had migrated to UK from Africa. Sunak did his schooling from Stroud School and Winchester College. During summer holidays, Sunak used to work as a waiter at a curry house in Southampton.

Later, he joined Lincoln College, Oxford to complete his graduation in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). While at the university, Sunak completed an internship at Conservative Campaign Headquarters. Later in 2006, Sunak completed an MBA from Stanford University. He also completed the Fulbright scholar program.

Sunak started his professional career, working as an analyst for Goldman Sachs. Later, he worked with the Children’s Investment Fund Management, a hedge fund management firm. He became a partner in the firm in 2006. In 2010, he shifted to California to join Theleme Partners. This was a new hedge fund firm with $700 million worth of assets under management.

Political career

Rishi Sunak’s political journey began in 2014, when he was chosen as the Conservative Party candidate to represent Richmond (Yorks). This seat was earlier held by William Hague, one of the most prominent faces in the Conservative Party. William Hague had been winning from Richmond (Yorks) since 1989. Rishi Sunak became an MP in 2015. He had held various important positions such as chief secretary to the Treasury. Sunak has been a supporter of Brexit.

Sunak rejoined the race for the Prime Minister’s post after resignation of Liz Truss on 20 October 2022. There were other contenders for the post such as Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson. After both backed out, Sunak was chosen as the new Leader of the Conservative Party as well as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Personal pursuits

Rishi Sunak is a teetotaler and he had said that his favorite drink is Cola-Cola. He likes dogs and has a Labrador named Nova. His other interests include tennis, cricket, and horse racing.