Rishi Sunak: Decorated Profile of New UK Prime Minister Who Has Kenyan Roots

• Rishi Sunak will replace Liz Truss as the new Prime Minister for the United Kingdom having secured the leadership of Conservative
• Sunak, whose parents are immigrants from East Africa, was born in the city of Southampton
• Sunak has had a glorious political career since he joined politics in 2015 when he was elected MP for Richmond

On Monday, October 24, Rishi Sunak was picked as the Conservative Party leader after his main competitors dropped out of the race.

With the new development, Sunak, who has Kenyan roots, now becomes the new UK Prime Minister, the first British-Asian Hindu PM.

Speaking after being declared the new Conservative leader, Sunak, 42, said he was “honoured and humbled” to become the next prime minister.

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“It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love, and to be able to give back to the country I owe so much to,” Sunak said as reported by Forbes.

TUKO.co.ke looks at the profile of who is now the youngest British PM in 200 years.

Rishi Sunak Family

Sunak was born in 1980, in the part of the city of Southampton at Southampton General Hospital after his parents migrated to the UK from East Africa in the 1960s.

Sunak’s father, Yashvir Sunak, was born in Kenya, while his mother, Usha, was born in Tanzania, formerly known as Tanganyika. His grandparents were born in the Punjab region of India and migrated.

He is married to Akshata Murty, and they are blessed with two daughters, Anoushka and Krishna.

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Sunak’s education

The new UK PM attended the Southampton prep school Oakmount until it closed in 1989 before being enrolled at Stroud School in Romsey.

He later joined Winchester College, a private school, then joined Oxford University, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics.

He later pursued a Master's in business administration at Stanford University in the United States.

Sunak’s work and political career

From the university, he worked for the investment bank Goldmach Sachs as a hedge fund manager.

He joined politics in 2015 and he was elected the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond until now.

In 2018 Sunak became a junior minister and, in July 2019, secretary to the treasury.

In February 2020, Sunak was promoted to Chancellor by then PM Boris Johnson following the resignation of Sajid Javid.

He became more popular during the Covid-19 pandemic after launching schemes such as Eat Out To Help Out to deal with the pandemic.

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Sunak resigned as Chancellor in July after then Prime Minister Boris faced a lot of pressure to quit.

Liz Truss resigns as British Prime Minister after 45 days in office

In another story, Briefly News reported that Liz Truss officially resigned as British Prime Minister after being in office for 45 days.

This is the shortest tenure of any UK prime minister. BBC reported that the second shortest-serving PM was George Canning, who served for 119 days after dying in 1827.

Trouble began when Truss's first Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, spooked the financial markets with his mini-budget on September 23.

Source: TUKO.co.ke