SERVING as deputy principal private secretary to the prime minister, Kunal Patel has emerged as an influential figure in 10 Downing Street. Patel joined Rishi Sunak’s team in August last year, taking up a crucial role – the principal private secretary acts the head of the prime minister’s office – and the move assumed significance as Patel served Sunak when he was chancellor. Patel had been private secretary to the chancellor between October 2019 to March 2022, when Sunak led the government’s financial response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact, including the Coronavirus Job Retention and Eat Out to Help Out schemes. The employee retention scheme, the first such scheme by a British government, cost an estimated £14 billion a month. The Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which encouraged people to visit restaurants by paying a slice of the bill, boosted a sector devastated by the pandemic, helping to increase diner numbers by more than a quarter year-on-year. Later, he was also involved in the government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis and the energy supply crisis, following the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Between March 2022 and October 2023, Patel served as the deputy director of the Fiscal Group at Treasury, which is responsible for ensuring that fiscal policy supports the government’s economic objectives and maintains sustainability of the public finances.
The group provides oversight of key financial assets and liabilities on the public sector balance sheet and ensures that the government’s financing needs are met. During this period, he has also served as one of two deputy directors for the Debt and Reserves Management team in the Treasury, which is the primary sponsor team and point of contact for the Debt Management Office, an executive agency of the Treasury responsible for debt and cash management for