London: Rishi Sunak, 42, is likely to create history by becoming the first British Prime Minister of Indian origin. He has cemented his lead over rivals Penny Mordaunt, a junior trade minister, and foreign minister Liz Truss, to become Britain’s Prime Minister, once the result is likely out after rounds of voting, on September 5, 2022.
When nominations for the Prime Ministership closed on July 12, there were eight Conservative lawmakers who made the first ballot. The first round of voting was held on July 13, Sunak emerged as the frontrunner with 88 votes, followed by Mordaunt (67 votes), and Truss (50 votes). On July 14, Sunak once again topped the second round of voting by Conservative MPs in the Tory leadership race. After the second round, five hopefuls made it through to the third round of voting on July 18.
Sunak will now be heading to television studios over the weekend to appear in tv debates with his opponents- Mordaunt, Truss, former minister Kemi Badenoch and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat.
Multiple rounds of voting will be held until there are two candidates remaining who will then face a runoff vote by about 180,000 Conservative Party members across the UK. The winner is scheduled to be announced on September 5, 2022, and will automatically become the Prime Minister without the need for a national election.
Sunak is the son-in-law of Sudha Murthy and Infosys founder Narayan Murthy. He met their daughter Akshata Murthy while studying at Stanford, and married her in 2009.
A member of the Conservative Party, he has been a Member of Parliament for Richmond since 2015. He was also the Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2020.
He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022 before he resigned on July 5, 2022, citing the economic policy differences between himself and Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his resignation letter. This precipitated Johnson’s exit from 10 Downing Street. Boris Johnson announced his resignation on July 7, 2022.
He incidentally was also the first Chancellor in British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. He was issued a fixed penalty notice for breaching COVID-19 regulations during lockdowns.
On July 8, 2022, he announced his candidacy to replace Johnson in the Conservative party leadership election.
Born on May 12, 1980, in Southampton to Indian parents Yashvir and Usha Sunak, who migrated from East Africa, he is the eldest of three siblings. He and Akshata are the 222nd richest people in Britain, who worth £730million as of 2022, as per the Sunday Times Rich List.
Photo of Rishi Sunak courtesy @RishiSunak|Twitter
– global bihari bureau
