Rishi Sunak

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, was first elected as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 2015. Sunak studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln College, Oxford and obtained an MBA from Stanford University. Before entering parliament, Sunak worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and later at the Children’s Investment Fund Management, where he became a partner in 2006. In 2009, he launched a new hedge fund firm, Theleme Partners. Described by William Hague as “a strong and effective advocate for our community”, Sunak succeeded the former foreign secretary as Richmond’s MP at the 2015 general election, holding the seat with a majority of 19,550. From 2015 to 2017, Sunak was a member of the environment, food and rural affairs committee. Sunak campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, describing it as “an opportunity to be seized.” In 2018, he was appointed as the parliamentary under-secretary for housing, communities and local government, as well as a member of the speaker’s committee on the electoral commission. After Theresa May’s resignation, Sunak supported Boris Johnson in the Conservative leadership contest. He was later rewarded with the role as chief secretary of the treasury, becoming a privy councillor and attending cabinet. Sunak, who wrote an influential report on the “opportunity” of free ports expansion for the Centre for Policy Studies in late 2016, is widely seen as a rising star within the Conservatives and was called upon to represent the Conservatives at the ITV and BBC general election debates at the 2019 general election. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in February 2020, following the sudden resignation of Savid Javid. Sunak’s first budget took place less than a week before national lockdown as a result of covid-19 and his legacy will undoubtedly be considered in the context of the pandemic.