Who Is Rishi Sunak, Front-Runner to Become Britain’s Next Prime Minister

In early September, Rishi Sunak narrowly lost a race to lead the Conservative Party and become prime minister. The person he lost to, Liz Truss, went on to have a tumultuous premiership and was forced to resign , becoming the shortest serving British prime minister in history and paving the way for a new leadership contest. Mr. Sunak is the heavy favorite to win .   

Mr. Sunak’s rise to the top of British politics is one of the more spectacular “I told you so” stories in modern politics. During the August leadership contest, Ms. Truss won over party members by harking back to Margaret Thatcher and promising a new and revitalized British economy with a far smaller state. To do that, she promised sweeping tax cuts, along with new spending, that she claimed would boost economic growth without damaging public finances. 

Mr. Sunak, a former investment banker, called her plans “fairyland economics.” He told the BBC at the time: “Liz’s plans are promising the earth to everybody. I don’t think you can have your cake and eat it.” He warned that her plan could aggravate inflation and cause a backlash on financial markets. 

Mr. Sunak was proved right weeks later, when Ms. Truss’s plans caused a severe reaction on markets; Ms. Truss was forced to fire her finance chief, backtrack on her plans and eventually resign. Now Mr. Sunak may get his shot to show if he can do it better. 

Who is Rishi Sunak? 

Mr. Sunak, 42, will be the first British prime minister with roots in India, a former British colony. His grandparents immigrated in the 1960s and are originally from India. His mother ran a pharmacy in southern England and his father was a doctor.

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Mr. Sunak attended the elite British private school Winchester and then went on to work for Goldman Sachs . It was while working on an M.B.A. at Stanford that he met his future wife. Mr. Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, is the daughter of an Indian billionaire businessman, the creator of Infosys Ltd. Mr. Sunak is estimated to be the richest member of the House of Commons, and critics say he is too rich to appeal to working class voters. 

What are Rishi Sunak’s policies?

Mr. Sunak was chancellor of the exchequer under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson , and is seen as far stronger on economic policy than other areas, including foreign policy. During his time at the treasury, he was seen as a pragmatist who oversaw a large spending program to help businesses pay to furlough millions of workers during the Covid pandemic to prevent workers from losing their jobs, and then also raised taxes to try to stabilize the U.K. government finances. 

His economic plans are seen as more pragmatic and less ideological than those of Ms. Truss. He said Britain needed to tame inflation first and ensure public finances were sustainable before cutting taxes to try to stimulate growth. 

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Mr. Sunak takes office at a particularly difficult time for Britain’s economy, with a looming recession and high inflation creating a double whammy for ordinary people. It also puts him in the difficult position of being personally very wealthy but having to advocate for spending cuts to appease investors concerned about U.K.’s finances. 

He is likely to continue the U.K. government’s strong defense of Ukraine from Russia’s invasion and had earlier promised his first foreign trip would be to Kyiv, Ukraine. However there are questions whether he will cut defense spending to help shore up the U.K. budget. 

What are Rishi Sunak’s views on Brexit?

Mr. Sunak lobbied in favor of the 2016 decision to leave the European Union, which greatly improved his standing in the party when the U.K. narrowly voted for that option. 

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Which party is Rishi Sunak part of?

He is part of the Conservative Party, which has governed Britain since 2010. During the last general election in 2019, the Tories, as the party are called, romped to victory behind then Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a platform of getting Brexit done and paying more attention to parts of the country that had been left behind by globalization, especially the industrial north of England. Mr. Johnson’s time in office, however, was marred by scandal and he was forced to resign this summer.   

What does this mean for U.S.-U.K. relations? 

Mr. Sunak went to Stanford business school and is seen as very comfortable with the U.S. Both countries are aligned on major foreign policy issues like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as China’s increasing power. He also held a green card for the U.S., which created a stir in the British media when it was discovered that he still held it even as minister. He no longer has his green card.

What’s the controversy with Rishi Sunak’s wife?

Ms. Murty this year had to change her tax arrangements after saying she benefited from tax rules that allowed her to pay no U.K. tax on her worldwide income. She says she changed that status and now pays U.K. tax on that income. 

“This article may be updated.”

Write to David Luhnow at [email protected] and Max Colchester at [email protected]