Rishi Sunak to be next British Prime Minister - his battle to the top

After Boris Johnson stepped down from the race to be re-instated as British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt were the only two left in the race. Penny needed at least 100 backers to stay in the race but she managed just 96 - four short - and left Rishi Sunak to take the top spot.

The announcement was made at 2pm on Monday 24th October, just four days after previous Prime Minister publicly resigned. Liz Truss' time as Prime Minister was shorter than the time her campaign took - let's hope that's not the case for Sunak.

Rishi Sunak was previously among the final two candidates left in the Conservative leadership race in the summer after Boris Johnson announced his decision to step down earlier this year. Sunak and Truss had been fighting it out to take the Conservative leadership before she won the majority and filled Boris' shoes. People looked to the new PM to solve the cost of living crisis in the UK and stabilise the economy, whilst ensuring salaries are fair and reflective. Liz Truss couldn't deliver.

Previously Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he had held since February 2020. Sunak became a topic of strong conversation in Britain when he resigned his position ahead of Johnson's resignation announcement.

Rishi supported Boris Johnson in his original bid for leadership but, according to the Mirror, immediately after Johnson's resignation, Rishi had a team set up in a Westminster hotel to kickstart his bid for the running.

The domain readyforrishi.com was first registered with GoDaddy on December 23, 2021, while ready4rishi.com was registered on July 6, 2022, two days after he resigned as the Chancellor. Boris Johnson resigned on July 7 2022.

In fact, after being a supporter of Boris Johnson for so long, many believe he is now disloyal due to his actions - and criticism has followed since. After the resignation of Boris Johnston, Sunak has been critical of various decisions Boris made during his disastrous tenure at number 10 even suggesting that the outgoing PM let lockdown go on for too long.

Rishi was praised during the first lockdown for supporting some workers with paid furlough. He was quick to make the decision and generated a £330 billion emergency ‘furlough’ scheme to support businesses and employees impacted by the pandemic. These furlough payments were extended and reintroduced several times throughout Britain’s 3 lockdowns.

What do scientists know? Sunak's opposition to closing schools during the pandemic was met with silence during one meeting. He also claimed that it was a mistake to “empower scientists” during the coronavirus pandemic.

During the pandemic, Rishi Sunak also created the government 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme to help keep the hospitality sector afloat. Around £849 million was subsidised in meals. Naturally, Sunak's photo was in the centre of every marketing campaign for the scheme.

Sunak faced criticism for his handling of inflation and tax rises. As well as COVID-19 case rises. The 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme contributed to a rise in COVID-19 infections of between 8% and 17%, according to a study at the University of Warwick.

Rishi Sunak's popularity took a dive after his short period of adoration and acclaim. As the people struggled through the after-effects of the global pandemic, the BBC revealed Rishi Sunak's salary (when he was Chancellor) sat at £151,649, and he is said to be the richest man in the House of Commons. 

Sunak was earning a pretty sum for his position, but perhaps that wasn't all the people were agitated with? It is possible his decline in popularity came from the call from the Labour Party to answer claims that he was listed as a beneficiary of offshore trusts in the British Virgin isles and the Cayman Islands.

His wife Akshata Murty is an heiress to a fortune worth billions, so the vast majority of Sunak's family wealth comes from her. As well as being an heiress to a massive fortune, she is also director of a venture capital firm and is said to be richer than the Queen.

Sunak’s wife dropped her husband in hot water earlier in 2022, when it was revealed she had been claiming non-dom status in the UK, saving her an estimated £20m in taxes.

Then, in April 2022, Rishi Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice for attending a lockdown gathering in the Cabinet Office with the prime minister. The people, who were forced to stay in their homes at the time, were, to say the least, disappointed in the demonstration of leadership in the British government. He resigned from the government in July 2022.

Rishi Sunak previously worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at the hedge fund firms Theleme Partners and the Children's Investment Fund Management. He also kept within his family and was also a director of investment firm Catamaran Ventures, a company owned by his father-in-law and Indian businessman N. R. Narayana Murthy. He was then elected for the seat at Richmond in 2015.

Sunak was born in Southhampton and was educated at Winchester college, Lincoln college (Oxford) and gained an MBA from the prestigious Stanford University in the U.S.A. According to his own website, Rishi's parents 'sacrificed a great deal so [he] could attend good schools'.

According to politics.co.uk, Sunak’s parents came to the UK from east Africa and are both of Indian origin. His father was an NHS family GP and his mother ran her own local chemist shop. Sunak is quoted on his website as wanting to make 'that same positive difference to people' as his parents.

Of course, Rishi has been subject to more controversies than the tax avoidance scandals and the cheese and wine debacle. Sunak got himself into a spot of bother when an interview surfaced in which he suggested that he had “no working-class friends”. He had said he had “friends who are aristocrats, I have friends who are upper-class, I have friends who are, you know, working-class’.” Sunak went on to corrected himself to say, “Well, not working-class”. The correction was worse than the original statement.

Rishi has wanted to take on the label 'man of the people', but many have questioned what kind of people? Alongside his wife, he ranked 222 out of 250 on the UK's rich list, so who are the 'people' Rishi Sunak is referring to?

UNISON were unimpressed with Sunak's Spring statement, saying that money is tight for millions of working people across the UK, many employed in essential public services. They said, “The chancellor had the wriggle room to deliver widespread relief across NHS, care, council, police and school services. It’s outrageous he chose not to.”

In fact, both Rishi Sunak and his fellow conservative candidate, Liz Truss said in a TV interview that they were both committed to banning workers from striking. They want to prevent the kind of disruption that the British people have seen on the railway network this summer.

Rishi Sunak had promised to help families who are struggling with the cost of living crisis. He broadly said, "This winter is going to be extremely tough for families up and down the country, and there is no doubt in my mind that more support will be needed", according to Financial Times. Sunak did not, however, comment any further on when or how or how much support would be given, casting doubt on Sunak's projections and promises.

Sunak is officially the first British Asian to become prime minister and, at 42, he is the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years. He has a seriously tough job, though, facing the blowout from Brexit, trying to rebuild his party's damaged image, and tackle the ever-increasing financial issues. Let's just hope the British public are “Ready for Rishi”.