Rishi Sunak (born 1 May 1980) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Chancellor of the Exchequer since February 2020.
He has also been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) since May 2015. Sunak was born in Southampton and raised in Surrey. His father, Narinder, was a GP and his mother, Usha, an accountant. He was educated at Winchester College, before going on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Pembroke College, Oxford. He subsequently worked for Goldman Sachs as a banker in London and New York City. In 2006, he founded a hedge fund called The Cutler Group. Sunak has been married to Akshata Murthy, the daughter of billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy, since 2009. They have two children. In 2015, Sunak was elected as the MP for Richmond (Yorks). He became a member of the Treasury Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. In July 2019, he was appointed as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In February 2020, Sunak was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Prime Minister Johnson. He is the first person of Indian descent to hold one of the Great Offices of State in the UK. In his first budget, Sunak increased spending on health, education and infrastructure. He also introduced a new tax on foreign buyers of second homes in the UK. In March 2020, Sunak announced a package of measures to support businesses and workers during the COVID–19 pandemic. This included a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to pay 80% of the wages of furloughed workers, and a Self–Employed Income Support Scheme. He also announced a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. Sunak has been widely praised for his handling of the COVID–19 pandemic. He has been described as a “star“ and a “superstar“ by Prime Minister Johnson. In May 2020, Sunak was nominated for the prestigious World Economic Forum‘s Young Global Leaders award.
