Is Rishi Sunak waiting for the next British Prime Minister?

The UK-born son of a pharmacist mother and National Health Service (NHS) general practitioner (GP) father, the University of Oxford and Stanford graduate. She He is married to Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, and the couple has two younger daughters, Krishna and Anushka.

Richmond MP first enters Yorkshire UK Parliament in 2015 and sharply increased the ranks of the Tory party to a staunch Brexiteer who supported Johnson’s strategy to leave the European Union (EU).

Sunak said during the Brexit referendum that from my experience working in my mother’s small chemist shop to my experience building big businesses, I have seen how we need free enterprise and more to ensure a strong future for Britain. Innovation must be supported.

He co-founded a £1 billion global investment firm and specialized in investing in small British businesses before entering politics.

As the first Chancellor of the Exchequer of Indian Heritage, Sunak made history in February 2020 when he was appointed to the UK’s most important cabinet post.

If Tory party murmurs and betting are anything to go by, the 41-year-old could well be in line to make history as Britain’s first Indian-origin prime minister.

“No, definitely not. Looking at what a prime minister has to do, it’s a pretty tough job for me,” Sunak said back in October 2020, when asked if he had prime ministerial ambitions.

But much has happened since Sunak led the country’s economic fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

As finance minister he implemented several schemes, including the furlough-based coronavirus job retention scheme and several COVID support grants for businesses struggling during the lockdown, which have proved to be largely popular.

However, the proposed tax hike from this April and the ever-increasing cost of energy and living costs has proved less popular within the Conservative Party base.

The famously low-tax side Tories may find their high-tax schemes digesting some of the economic ground lost during the pandemic, when things really get down to a leadership scandal.

In fact, by not speaking out more strongly in support of Johnson, 57, has already been discussed within party ranks after he overplayed his hand at the Downing Street Garden party in Parliament earlier this week. is going on. lockdown rules.

Sunak, who was miles away on a business trip, tweeted much later in the evening, saying that “the PM was right to apologise and I support his request for patience while Sue Gray conducts her investigation”.

This was seen as a half-hearted show of support and a reflection of their own leadership ambitions.

The property belonging to Sunak and his wife Akshata has also often been in the limelight for the wrong reasons, with the chancellor’s 95-pound pair of slippers being the latest luxury item to hit the headlines in official photos released ahead of the Budget in October last year.

He was then pictured with a so-called “smart mug” worth 180 pounds, allegedly a gift from his wife.

However, his image as a family man, who wears bracelets made by his daughters before important speeches, is a story the British Indian community would like to uncover.

He has also often spoken of himself as a “proud Hindu”, most recently when he unveiled a new 5-pound commemorative coin celebrating the life of Mahatma Gandhi for Diwali last November.

“As a practicing Hindu, I am proud to unveil this coin during Diwali. Mahatma Gandhi played an important role in the Indian independence movement and it is wonderful to have a British coin for the first time in his remarkable life.”

Ever since he took over as chancellor, there has been speculation in UK media that Sunak is eyeing a top job to move from his current No. 11 Downing Street office next door.

A Prime Minister and Chancellor interacting with each other has been a historical dynamic within British politics and much of the speculation was attributed to that political power play.

However, with Johnson increasingly embroiled in his own party ranks, the neighboring dynamic of Downing Street could go on to forge new British Indian history.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.