Rishi Sunak makes history as Britain's first Asian Prime Minister. That was after he was voted in as the new leader of the Conservative Party. The former UK chancellor is now set to succeed Truss, who stepped down after 45 days in office after a failed leadership bid in the summer, while Boris Johnson, Truss' predecessor as prime minister, has been thrown out of the latest leadership race
But who is Rishi Sunak and what can we expect from him?
Sunak was Britain's first Asian and Hindu Prime Minister. He was born in Southampton in 1980, his father was a GP and his mother ran her own pharmacy. Sunak's parents came to the UK from East Africa and are both of Indian descent. His father was born and raised in what is now Kenya and his mother was born in Tanganyika.(It later became part of Tanzania). His ancestors were born in Punjab, India and immigrated to the UK with their families from East Africa in the 1960s. In 2009, Sunak married Akshata Murthy, daughter of Indian billionaire NR Narayana Murthy. Narayana Murthy is the founder of technology company Infosys and one of the ten richest individuals in India. The couple has two daughters Krishna and Anushka. From 2001 to 2004, Sunak was a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs and later a partner at two hedge funds. He is said to be one of the richest MPs in the country but has not publicly disclosed how much he is worth. From 2015 he was the Conservative MP for Richmond, Yorkshire and became a junior minister in Theresa May's government. Her successor, Boris Johnson, later made him Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Sunak became chancellor in February 2020 and within weeks he had to lead the UK economy as the pandemic and lockdown began. He is credited with the success of the furlough scheme, a government plan that helped pay 11.6 million workers after the coronavirus pandemic forced the shutdown of large parts of the economy. The "Help Out To Eat Out" scheme, which encouraged people to go out to restaurants and bars after the UK lockdown was lifted, helped the public to eat out and support hospitality establishments, despite reports that it may have boosted the rate of COVID-19 infections. He later said he was proud.
Sunak unsuccessfully campaigned to become UK prime minister in the summer after Boris Johnson resigned in July. At the time he was primarily focused on one thing. The worsening UK economy and his plan to fix it. Although he was the favourite to succeed his old leader, he failed to convince Tory members. Finally, in September, Liz Truss was appointed and she was sent to Downing Street. After a tumultuous few months in government, many are hoping that a new prime minister will herald a new start for the UK. Many people in the UK are currently struggling with the cost of living and the war in Ukraine is escalating. Rishi Sunak now becomes the third Conservative Prime Minister in seven weeks. He also joins history as the first Asian Prime Minister of Britain.