It is a day of historic firsts for Rishi Sunak, who beat Penny Mordaunt in the race to become the new Conservative Party leader and by extension the next prime minister.
Mr Sunak will become the UK’s first ever Hindu to hold the highest office in the land after meeting King Charles, who will ask him to form a government.
He will also be one of the richest politicians to enter No 10 Downing Street. According to the Sunday Times Rich List Mr Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, are worth £730 million.
Mr Sunak, the MP for Richmond (Yorkshire), served as chancellor under former PM Boris Johnson, meaning he has experience at the top levels of government.
He oversaw the government’s furlough scheme during the Covid pandemic and drew up plans for the cost of living payments being given to people to help them cover sky high energy, fuel and food prices.
Mr Sunak was first elected to parliament just seven years ago in 2015 and his rise to the top has been swift.
He was promoted to the role of parliamentary undersecretary at the now-defunct Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by Mr Johnson in 2019.
Just a year later he got another promotion to chief secretary of the Treasury and was then made chancellor by Mr Johnson in 2020.
Prior to entering parliament Mr Sunak worked as a banker and it was his experience in the industry that qualified him for the role of overseeing the nation’s finance.
Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata, who he married in 2009, is the daughter of N R Narayana Murthy, founder of the Indian multi-national IT company Infosys, who is worth an estimated $4.5bn. She is reported to have a £690m stake in the firm.
While Mr Sunak and his wife have a combined worth of more than £700 million the new prime minister made his own fortune while working in the City.
After studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University, Mr Sunak would go on to work as an analyst for Goldman Sachs before joining a series of hedge funds.
In speeches after he was announced as the leadership contest winner, Mr Sunak vowed to unify his divided party and warned of the “profound economic challenge” ahead.
He also paid to Liz Truss, the former PM who he will replace.
In a televised address to the nation, Rishi Sunak said: “I would like to pay tribute to Liz Truss for her dedicated public service to the country.
“She has led with dignity and grace through a time of great change and under exceptionally difficult circumstances both at home and abroad.
“I am humbled and honoured to have the support of my parliamentary colleagues and to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party.
“It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I live and to give back to the country I owe so much to.”
