After both of the front-runners in the contest to succeed Liz Truss withdrew before any votes were cast among Conservative party members, Rishi Sunak is now all but certain to become the next The New P. M. Of The United Kingdom. Swearing-in will be held on October 28.
While his challenger, the former prime minister Boris Johnson, withdrew from the race claiming he could no longer unify the party, he overcame centrist politician Penny Mordaunt, who was unable to secure enough support from parliamentarians to be included on the vote.
By becoming the first person of Indian descent and the first member of the Hindu faith to rule Britain, Sunak will make history by becoming the New Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
“I pledge that I will serve you with integrity and humility and I will work day in and day out to deliver for the British people”: said the U.K. PM-designate Rishi Sunak at the Conservative Party Headquarters in London.
Former finance minister Sunak, 42, takes office as Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months. He is tasked with bringing peace to a nation that has been in instability for years due to political and economic unrest.
When Sunak, then 39, took over as Johnson’s finance minister during the COVID-19 pandemic and created the effective furlough programme, he gained significant notice.
The former Goldman Sachs analyst will be the first prime minister of Indian descent to lead the United Kingdom.
Know about The New UK PM:
- Rishi Sunak often speaks of his heritage and how his family reminded him often about values and culture.
- His great-grandparents came from Punjab, India, and immigrated to Britain in the 1960s from Eastern Africa.
- In his first speech to MPs in 2015, Sunak stated that they had “very little” when they came.
- His mother ran a local pharmacy, while his father practiced family medicine in Southampton, England, on the south coast.
- Sunak worked as a waiter in a local Indian restaurant while he was growing up before attending Oxford and then Stanford University in California.
He claims that the experiences of his own family and his extremely wealthy wife are both “very Conservative” tales of striving for success.
“A Proud Hindu”
- Sunak is a devout Hindu and a frequent visitor to the Southampton temple where he was born.
- Anoushka and Krishna, his daughters, have strong ties to Indian culture.
- He took the Bhagavad Gita as his pledge of allegiance after he was elected as an MP.
- Sunak met Akshata Murthy, a fashion designer, while he was pursuing an MBA at Stanford University in California. Akshata is now his wife.
- They got married in August 2009.
- Akshata is the daughter of Sudha Murty, a philanthropist, and Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys and one of the richest people in India.
- Anoushka and Krishna, his daughters, have strong ties to Indian culture.
- Rishi Sunak is deeply invested in UK real estate and has a net worth of over 700 million pounds. In addition to their Yorkshire estate, Rishi and his wife Akshata also own a home in Kensington in the heart of London.
- He is fluent in Hindi and Punjabi in addition to English.
- Rishi Sunak likes to play cricket to stay in shape.
- Sunak will be both the first non-white and British Asian to hold the position of prime minister. He will serve as the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years at the age of 42.
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