What next for Rishi Sunak?
Born in Southampton to Punjabi parents who came from East Africa in the 1960s, Sunak probably has his working life ahead of him.
Compared with the other surviving British ex-prime ministers – Sir John Major (82), Sir Tony Blair (71), Gordon Brown (73), Lord David Cameron (58), Lady Theresa May (68), Boris Johnson (60) and Liz Truss (49) – he has youth on his side.
He will turn 45 on 12 May, 2025.
It’s worth recalling that exactly a year ago, when he was prime minister, he launched Eastern Eye’s Power List on which he was ranked number one.
Sunak has always said: “I’m proud to be the first British Asian prime minister but even prouder that it’s not a big deal.”
But actually in the shared history of Britain and India, going back to when Sir Thomas Roe arrived in the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir on September 18, 1615 as King James I’s ambassador, it is a very big deal.
Sunak didn’t become prime minister out of the blue or simply because Truss crashed the economy.
Looking at trends in British politics over the last 50-60 years, the road to Rishi has been a long and winding one.
It was big news in 1975 when Narindar Saroop became the first Asian since the Second World War to be chosen as a Tory parliamentary candidate. Saroop, who described himself rather comically, as “an Englishman of Punjabi extraction”, was selected to fight Labour-held Greenwich in south London.
He didn’t win in the 1979 general election even though he had invested heavily in buying cufflinks and blue and white striped shirts from Jermyn Street. But the election brought Margaret Thatcher to power. And she became president of the Anglo-Asian Society, which Saroop had set up as a successor to the Durbar Club, with himself as president. The idea was to hold dinners for the wealthy Indian elite with cabinet ministers as guest speakers. This was the time when Indians – and Pakistanis – supported Labour.
When Mrs Thatcher wore a “peacock blue sari” to appear on the BBC programme for Asian viewers, Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan, fronted by Mahendra Kaul (father of the judge Kaly Kaul), the prime minister was widely condemned by right wingers “for sucking up to coloured immigrants”. But it was becoming clear that the Asian bloc vote often tipped the balance in Labour’s favour in marginal seats. The shift to the Tories began after Edward Heath admitted Asian refugees from Uganda in 1972.
In fact, Mrs Thatcher had the backing of Gujarati voters in her Finchley seat in north London. Her low tax policies appealed to small businesses. Major had progressive ideas on race relations. But it was Cameron and later Johnson who promoted Asians. Although they fell out later, it was Johnson who appointed a relatively inexperienced Sunak as chief secretary to the treasury on 24 July 2019 in his first cabinet. When Sajid Javid resigned as chancellor, Sunak was appointed to the post. When the pandemic hit Britain, he introduced the furlough scheme.
But it is said all political careers end in failure. After losing the general election on 4 July 2024, Sunak joked that he had become an “elder statesman” at the ripe old age of 44.
He had succeeded William (now Lord) Hague, as MP for Richmond in Yorkshire in 2015, and rose rapidly to become chancellor in 2020 and prime minister on 25 October 2022. He is staying as MP for his constituency (renamed Richmond and Northallerton) but whether he will wish to languish on the backbenches after the next general election is rather more doubtful.
But he will remain an important figure in the “living bridge” between India and Britain and especially the 2.5m people of Indian origin in the UK. This is partly because of his family links. His wife, Akshata Murty, whom he met when they were students at Stanford in America, is the daughter of N R Narayana Murthy, one of the founders of Infosys, the multinational technology giant. It is mainly because of the shares bequeathed to her by her father that Rishi and Akshata Sunak ranked 19th on Eastern Eye’s 2025 Rich List with £920m. That means that unlike other British politicians, he does not have to seek directorships or paid lecture tours. He certainly does not need other people to pay for his suits or spectacles or indeed his curtains or wallpaper.
When he left 10, Downing Street, the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi sent his congratulations to his successor, Sir Keir Starmer. But he also thanked Sunak “for your admirable leadership of the UK, and your active contribution to deepen the ties between India and the UK during your term in office”.
Modi also made time for Sunak, his wife, their two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, and his mother-in-law, Sudha Murty, in Delhi in February this year.
“It was a delight to meet former UK PM, Mr Rishi Sunak and his family!” said Modi afterwards. “We had a wonderful conversation on many subjects. Mr Sunak is a great friend of India and is passionate about even stronger India-UK ties.”
Sunak also indicated he will remain active on the UK-India scene in his response to Modi: “Thank you for so warmly welcoming my family, too! Always exciting to hear your vision for India, and so important the UK-India relationship goes from strength to strength.”
His wife dropped a hint about future plans when she was interviewed along with her mother, for the long-running “Relative Values” slot in the Sunday Times.
“Rishi and I are now in the next phase of our journey,” said Akshata, who is setting up a private office with her husband to promote education initiatives.
“We’re passionate about education and we’re exploring ideas together,” she explained. “We want to pass values and opportunities not just to our children but to as many young people as possible.”
He has joined Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government as a member of the World Leaders Circle and a Distinguished Fellow. The circle is “a global network of former heads of government, a forum to exchange ideas and foster international collaboration among leaders”.
Hague, the new chancellor of Oxford University, welcome Sunak’s appointment: “His experience as prime minister and chancellor and his deep understanding of the challenges facing governments today will be a huge asset to the school’s work….I have no doubt his insights will inspire the next generation of leaders who are starting their journey here at Oxford.”
Sunak was head boy at Winchester College, took a First as an undergraduate reading philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar.
He will also be a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, which is part of Stanford, where he will “work on issues including trans-Atlantic relations, economic policy, technology, and global security challenges”.
Condoleezza Rice, America’s black secretary of state who is now a director of the Hoover Institution, commented that Sunak’s “extensive policy and global experience will enrich our fellowship and help to define important policies moving forward”.
Sunak responded by saying: “I was fortunate enough to study at both, they shaped my life and career, and I look forward to contributing to their world-leading research in the months and years ahead.”
In a curious way, his personal political standing has not been damaged even though he led the Tories to their worst defeat, when the party was left with a rump of only 121 MPs after losing 250 seats. That is probably because most people recognise the country was ready for “change” after 14 years of Tory rule. He also had to deal with hostile cabinet ministers as revealed in Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip by Simon Hart.
Hart has provided an account of how Sunak was undermined by Suella Braverman, whom he had appointed as home secretary days after she had been forced to leave the same post in Liz Truss’s cabinet.
Hart notes at one point: “I really need to see the PM to explain why Suella is not his friend. The problem we have is that the whips’ office is seeing the real Suella but No 10 sees the more house-trained version. We see the leaks, the tearoom briefings and the general lack of solidarity.”
There is a follow up account of Braverman’s sacking in a reshuffle: “Once RS has made clear his intentions, there comes this ghastly ten-minute diatribe of vindictive and personal bile. It’s hard to know how to react at moments like this, or where to look. Part of me feels that this is a private call and that we are all eavesdropping, but the other part realises that for the protection of the PM and the government there needs to be a note taken and a record saved.”
Sunak emerges as the best of the five prime ministers that Graham (now Lord) Brady had to deal with as chairman from 2010-2024 of the influential “1922 Committee” that represents backbench Tory MPs.
“I would observe that not only is Rishi Sunak decent and competent, he also has rather less ego than is normal for a senior politician.” Brady wrote in his book, Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers.
He added: “Attacks on Sunak for his wealth – suggesting it made him ‘out of touch’ – couldn’t have been more wrong. Those who have dealt with Rishi find him surprisingly normal. But maybe Rishi Sunak wasn’t enough of a politician: he made the mistake of being what people say they want, not what they actually vote for.”
On leaving 10, Downing Street for the last time as prime minister, Sunak was dignified in defeat.
In a speech, which won him many friends, he noted: “One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister. And that I could watch my two young daughters light Diwali candles on the steps in Downing Street.”
He went on: “We must hold true to that idea of who we are. That vision of kindness, decency and tolerance that has always been the British way.
“This is a difficult day at the end of a number of difficult days. But I leave this job honoured to have been your prime minister. This is the best country in the world. And it is thanks entirely to you, the British people, the true source of all our achievements, our strengths and our greatness.”
He also had kind words for Starmer after a six-week campaign in which harsh words were exchanged: “Whatever our disagreements in this campaign, he is a decent, public-spirited man who I respect.”
Starmer was equally gracious: “I want to thank the outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak. His achievement as the first British Asian prime minister of our country, the extra effort that that will have required, should not be underestimated by anyone. And we paid tribute to that today. We also recognise the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership.”
At India’s Republic Day celebrations at the Guildhall in London earlier this year, Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care, went of his way to tell a multicultural audience: “In the spirit of the occasion, I actually pay tribute to our former prime minister Rishi Sunak and the leadership he showed, as we mark this auspicious occasion, and in doing so, celebrate the deep ties that bind our two great countries together.”
When Sunak became prime minister, King Charles appeared genuinely delighted and greeted his first prime minister – Truss was his mother’s 15th, the first being Winston Churchill – by gifting him a box of Diwali sweets.
Sunak spoke from the despatch box for the last time on 30 October 2024. Responding to the first budget introduced by Rachel Reeves, many think Sunak made his finest Commons speech when he delivered “some basic home truths” and defended his legacy.
“During the election, the chancellor repeatedly promised that her plans were fully funded,” he said. “Only a few weeks ago, the prime minister said the budget would ‘balance the books’, but this budget does no such thing and reveals that they have not been straight with the British people.”
Sunak’s transition from the ranks of just “former prime minister” to international statesman whose voice carries weight in the chancelleries of the world and crucially in India, has begun.
Speaking from the backbenches in February, he said that “in the event of any peace deal, the United Kingdom and its European allies must lead in providing Ukraine with military support and, potentially, military presence across land, air and sea, to give Ukraine confidence that any peace will endure. I assure the government that they will have my support, if that is what they decide to do.”
He also advocated a two-state solution for the Middle East.
