Rishi Sunak is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022.
86 Facts About Rishi Sunak
2.
Rishi Sunak previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, lastly as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022.
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Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s.
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Rishi Sunak was educated at Winchester College, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned an MBA from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar.
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Rishi Sunak was elected to the House of Commons for Richmond in North Yorkshire at the 2015 general election.
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Rishi Sunak was involved in the government's response to the cost of living crisis, UK energy supply crisis, and global energy crisis.
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Rishi Sunak resigned as chancellor in July 2022 amid a government crisis that culminated in Johnson's resignation.
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Rishi Sunak had received the most votes in each of the series of MP votes, but lost the members' vote to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
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Rishi Sunak was elected unopposed as Conservative leader and appointed prime minister.
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Rishi Sunak is the first British Asian and Hindu to hold the office of prime minister.
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Rishi Sunak took office amid the cost of living crisis and energy supply crisis that began during his chancellorship, as well as amid industrial disputes and strikes.
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Rishi Sunak has authorised foreign aid and weapons shipments to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country.
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Rishi Sunak was born on 12 May 1980 in Southampton General Hospital in Southampton, Hampshire, to Southeast African-born Hindu parents of Indian Punjabi descent, Yashvir and Usha Rishi Sunak.
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Rishi Sunak attended Stroud School, a preparatory school in Romsey, and later studied at Winchester College as a dayboy, becoming head boy of the college.
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Rishi Sunak worked as a waiter in a curry house in Southampton during his summer holidays.
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Rishi Sunak read philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating with a first in 2001.
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In 2006, Rishi Sunak earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar.
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Rishi Sunak's grandparents migrated to East Africa, and then to the United Kingdom in the 1960s.
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Rishi Sunak's father, Yashvir Sunak, was born and raised in the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, and is a general practitioner in the National Health Service.
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Rishi Sunak's mother, Usha Sunak, born in Tanganyika, was a pharmacist and owned the Sunak Pharmacy in Southampton between 1995 and 2014, and has a degree from Aston University.
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Rishi Sunak worked as an analyst for the investment bank Goldman Sachs between 2001 and 2004.
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Rishi Sunak then worked for hedge fund management firm the Children's Investment Fund Management, becoming a partner in September 2006.
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Rishi Sunak was selected as the Conservative candidate for Richmond in October 2014, defeating Wendy Morton.
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Rishi Sunak was elected as MP for the constituency at the 2015 general election with a majority of 19,550.
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Rishi Sunak supported the successful campaign for the UK to leave the European Union in the June 2016 European Union membership referendum.
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Rishi Sunak was re-elected at the 2017 general election with an increased majority of 23,108.
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In 2017, Rishi Sunak described the importance and fragility of Britain's undersea infrastructure.
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Rishi Sunak was re-elected at the 2019 general election with an increased majority of 27,210.
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Rishi Sunak was appointed to a junior ministerial position in May's second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the 2018 cabinet reshuffle.
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Rishi Sunak supported Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election and co-wrote an article with fellow MPs Robert Jenrick and Oliver Dowden to advocate for Johnson during the campaign in June.
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Rishi Sunak became a member of the Privy Council the next day.
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On 13 February, Rishi Sunak was promoted to chancellor as part of the 2020 cabinet reshuffle, after Javid had resigned that day following a meeting with Johnson.
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On 17 March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, Rishi Sunak became prominent in the government's response.
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In October 2021, Rishi Sunak made his third and final budget statement, which included substantial spending promises related to science and education.
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Rishi Sunak promised a reduction in income tax in 2024.
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Rishi Sunak provided some funding to help vulnerable people cope with the rising cost of living.
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Rishi Sunak seems to have taken the most minimalist approach possible to this requirement.
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The independent adviser on ministers' interests investigated and concluded that Rishi Sunak had not broken any rules.
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An investigation into both his wife's tax status and his residency status found that Rishi Sunak had not broken any ministerial rules.
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Rishi Sunak was the second of 61 Conservative MPs to resign during the government crisis.
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On 8 July 2022, Rishi Sunak announced his candidacy in the Conservative Party leadership election to replace Johnson.
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Rishi Sunak launched his campaign in a video posted to social media, writing that he would "restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country".
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Rishi Sunak said that his values were "patriotism, fairness, hard work", and pledged to "crack down on gender neutral language".
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Rishi Sunak had received the most votes in each of the series of MP votes with Sunak receiving 137 to Truss's 113 in the final round.
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Rishi Sunak spent the duration of Truss's premiership on the backbenches.
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Rishi Sunak is the first non-white, British Asian and Hindu prime minister of the United Kingdom.
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Rishi Sunak promised to "place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government's agenda".
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Rishi Sunak began to appoint his cabinet on 25 October 2022.
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Rishi Sunak was criticised for his appointment of Gavin Williamson and Dominic Raab to the cabinet.
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Rishi Sunak was criticised for returning Braverman to the cabinet, despite her previous resignation for breaking the Ministerial Code.
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Rishi Sunak said that his appointments to the government were in an attempt to reflect a "unified party".
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On 29 January 2023 Rishi Sunak dismissed Zahawi, stating that ethics adviser Laurie Magnus had found a "serious breach" of the ministerial code.
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Rishi Sunak's judgement was questioned for originally reappointing Zahawi, and there were questions over whether Rishi Sunak should have dismissed him earlier.
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In October, Rishi Sunak initially said that he would not attend the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, to allow him to concentrate on urgent domestic matters.
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Rishi Sunak told the meeting of approximately 200 politicians and campaigners that the UK would continue with its environmental aims after the end of its COP26 presidency.
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Rishi Sunak paid tribute to the king's longstanding work for the environment.
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Rishi Sunak then asked attendees to build upon what had already been achieved to secure an incredible legacy for generations to come.
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On crime, Rishi Sunak proposed an automatic one-year extension to prison sentences for prolific criminals, as well as cutting the minimum sentence before a foreign criminal is eligible for deportation from twelve months to six.
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Rishi Sunak proposed life imprisonment for leaders of child grooming gangs, and for police to record the ethnicity of those involved in such gangs.
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Rishi Sunak supported the Leave campaign during the 2016 EU referendum.
61.
Rishi Sunak said the UK would not be pursuing a relationship with the EU post-Brexit if the UK had to align with EU laws.
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In January 2023, Rishi Sunak confirmed intentions to remove EU legislation from the UK statute book that year, saying that it should be a "collective effort".
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Rishi Sunak signed the Conservative Environment Pledge, as shown on the Conservative Environment Network website which has the support of approximately 127 MPs.
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Rishi Sunak has said he is committed to keeping the legal commitment of reaching net zero by 2050.
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Rishi Sunak is said to have listened to fellow MPs with a green agenda and that he was a believer in net zero for the UK.
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Rishi Sunak voted against a call for Britain to eliminate most greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by 2030.
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Rishi Sunak has backed fracking, where it is supported by local residents.
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Rishi Sunak announced support for a new Capital Markets Mechanism which will issue green bonds in the UK to fund renewable energy in developing countries.
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Rishi Sunak described Saudi Arabia as a "partner" and "ally", but said that the British government does not ignore human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.
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Rishi Sunak supported the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
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In July 2022, Rishi Sunak said that he wanted the UK to be "the safest and greatest country in the world to be LGBT+".
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Various polls showed Rishi Sunak remained overwhelmingly popular among Conservative supporters and many other Britons throughout 2020.
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Public attitudes towards Rishi Sunak remained broadly positive in 2021, though his popularity declined steadily over time.
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On 20 January 2023, Rishi Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice by Lancashire Police for failing to wear a seatbelt in the back of his ministerial car while filming an Instagram video to promote his government's levelling up policy.
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Rishi Sunak apologised for the incident, saying it was an "error of judgement".
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Rishi Sunak's father-in-law is the founder of the technology company Infosys in which Murty owns a stake.
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Rishi Sunak has stated he is a Coca-Cola addict and now has seven dental fillings due to excessive consumption when he was younger.
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Rishi Sunak was previously a governor of the East London Science School.
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Rishi Sunak has a Labrador called Nova and is a cricket and horse racing enthusiast.
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Rishi Sunak is a Hindu and identifies as British Indian, stating that he is "thoroughly British" but with an Indian religious and cultural heritage.
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Rishi Sunak took his oath as an MP at the House of Commons on the Bhagavad Gita.
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Rishi Sunak is a close friend of The Spectator former political editor James Forsyth, whom he has known since their school days.
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Rishi Sunak was the best man at Forsyth's wedding to the journalist Allegra Stratton, and they are godparents to each other's children.
84.
Rishi Sunak appointed Forsyth as his political secretary in December 2022.
85.
In October 2022, the Rishi Sunak family resumed residence of their former official home at 10 Downing Street, this time as prime minister and reversing the trend started in 1997 of prime ministers living in the four bedroom flat above 11 Downing Street.
86.
In March 2023, Rishi Sunak published a summary of his private UK tax return calculations.