Meet Rishi Sunak, UK’s first Prime Minister of colour, non-christian

Rishi Sunak has been named Britain’s third prime minister in two months. The former finance minister inherits flagging economy, with inflation at a 40-year high.

Sunak, a former finance minister, will be Britain’s first leader of color and the first Hindu to take the top job. At 42, he’ll also be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years.

Sunak was born in 1980 in the port city of Southampton. His parents had immigrated to the UK from East Africa in the 1960.

Sunak’s only challenger, Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons and former defence minister, was reportedly backed by 30 MPs compared with nearly 150 supporting Sunak.

He attended Winchester College, a private school, then studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. He worked for investment bank Goldmach Sachs.

In 2009, he married fashion designer Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Indian billionaire N R Narayana Murthy.

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Since 2015, he has been a conservative MP. In 2020 he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer before quitting in 2022, citing a difference in approach to the economy between him and the PM Johnson

“This decision is an historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party,” Mordaunt said in a statement as she withdrew from the race just minutes before the winner was due to be announced. “Rishi has my full support.”

“These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty today,” she said. “They have taken this decision in good faith for the good of the country.”

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Sunak and Mordaunt had lost to Truss in an earlier race to appoint a new leader after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July following a wave of scandals linked to parties entertained during the coronavirus lockdown.

The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to launch deep spending cuts to try to rebuild Britain’s fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into a recession, dragged down by the surging cost of energy and food.

He will also inherit a political party that has fractured along ideological lines, a challenge that damaged the fortunes of several former Conservative leaders.

The Tories retain a majority in parliament, meaning that as their leader, Sunak will be named prime minister by King Charles III.