Age, Biography and Wiki
Rishi Sunak was born on May 12, 1980, and as of 2025, he is 45 years old. His biography is marked by achievements in both politics and finance. Sunak is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024. For more detailed information, his Wikipedia page offers a comprehensive overview of his life and career.
| Occupation | Prime Ministers |
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| Date of Birth | 12 May 1980 |
| Age | 45 Years |
| Birth Place | Southampton, Hampshire, England |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | England |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited public information available about Rishi Sunak's height, weight, and other physical measurements. However, his public appearances often highlight his fit and energetic demeanor.
Soon, you might be fortunate enough to be tapped on the shoulder and be offered a junior ministerial role, then you'll find yourself attending cabinet, then in the cabinet and then when the prime minister's position becomes untenable you might end up being called to the highest office.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Rishi Sunak is married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of Indian billionaire N.R. Narayana Murthy. Their marriage has been a significant factor in his net worth due to Akshata's inheritance from her family's wealth.
His paternal grandfather Ramdas Sunak had migrated from Gujranwala, located in present-day Pakistan, to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in 1935, while his maternal grandfather, Raghubir Berry, grew up in Punjab before eventually moving to Tanzania as an engineer. Both of Sunak's parents had moved to the UK in 1966. While in the UK they met and eventually married in 1977. Sunak attended Stroud School, a preparatory school in Romsey, and later studied at Winchester College as a dayboy, becoming head boy of the college. He worked as a waiter, at the curry house Kuti's Brasserie in Southampton, during his summer holidays. He read philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating with a first in 2001. During his time at university, he undertook an internship at Conservative Campaign Headquarters and joined the Conservative Party. In 2006 Sunak earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar.
Sunak's paternal grandfather was from Gujranwala (in present-day Pakistan ), while his maternal grandfather was from Ludhiana (in present-day India ); both cities at the time were part of the Punjab province in British India. His grandparents migrated to East Africa, and then to the United Kingdom in the 1960s. His mother, born in Tanganyika (which later became part of Tanzania), was a pharmacist who owned the Sunak Pharmacy in Southampton between 1995 and 2014, and has a degree from Aston University. Sunak is the eldest of three siblings. His brother is a psychologist and his sister works in New York as chief of strategy and planning at Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises.
Sunak worked as an analyst for the investment bank Goldman Sachs between 2001 and 2004. He then worked for hedge fund management firm The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI), becoming a partner in September 2006. He left in November 2009 to join former colleagues in California at a new hedge fund firm, Theleme Partners, which launched in October 2010 with $700 million under management (equivalent to $ million in ). At both hedge funds, his boss was Patrick Degorce. Sunak was also a director of the investment firm Catamaran Ventures, owned by his father-in-law, the Indian businessman N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, between 2013 and 2015.
In January 2025, he became a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, a distinguished fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and signed as an exclusive speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau. In March 2025, Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty founded a charity called The Richmond Project which aims to improve the numeracy skills of schoolchildren and adults.
In August 2009, Sunak married Akshata Murty, the daughter of N. R. Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty. His father-in-law is the founder of the technology company Infosys, in which Murty owns a stake. Sunak and Murty met while studying at Stanford University in the US, and he proposed to her on a cliff near the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay. They have two daughters: the first born in 2011 and the second in 2013. In November 2020, Sunak was reported by The Guardian to have not declared a significant amount of his wife and family's financial interests on the register of ministers' interests, including a combined £1.7billion shareholding in Infosys. Ministers are required to declare interests that are "relevant" to their responsibilities and "which might be thought to give rise to a conflict" with their public duties. The independent adviser on ministers' interests investigated and concluded that Sunak had not broken any rules.
In early 2022, newspapers reported that Murty had non-domiciled status, meaning she did not have to pay tax on income earned abroad while living in the UK. The status cost approximately £30,000 to secure, and allowed her to avoid paying an estimated £20 million in UK taxes. On 8 April Murty issued a statement saying that she would pay UK taxes on her global income, and that she regretted the issue had become "a distraction for [her] husband". An inquiry was set up to identify the source of the leak regarding her tax status. Reporting around this time also revealed that Sunak had continued to hold United States' permanent resident (green card) status he had acquired in the 2000s until 2021, including for 18 months after he was made chancellor, which required filing annual US tax returns. An investigation into both his wife's tax status and his residency status found that Sunak had not broken any ministerial rules.
Sunak and Murty own several houses, including one in North Yorkshire; a mews house in Earl's Court in central London; a flat on the Old Brompton Road, South Kensington; and a penthouse apartment on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California. In April 2022, it was reported that Sunak and Murty had moved out of the flat above 10 Downing Street to a newly refurbished West London home for domestic reasons. In October 2022, the Sunaks resumed residence of their former official home at 10 Downing Street, this time as prime minister and reversing the trend started in 1997 of prime ministers living in the four-bedroom flat above 11 Downing Street. In August 2023, Sunak and his family quietly left the UK for 10 days in Santa Monica for his first holiday in almost four years, where they visited the Santa Monica Pier and Disneyland, and attended one of the concerts of The Eras Tour by Taylor Swift. In April 2022, amid the Partygate scandal, Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice by the police who believed he had committed offences under COVID-19 regulations by attending a birthday gathering for Boris Johnson on 19 June 2020. The police also issued 125 fixed penalty notices to 82 other individuals, including Johnson and his wife Carrie Symonds, who all apologised and paid the penalties. After receiving the penalty notice, Sunak said he was "extremely and sincerely sorry" for the hurt caused by him attending the party, and that he respected the police's decision to give him a fine. In January 2023, Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice by Lancashire Constabulary after a social media video of him failing to wear a seat belt in a moving vehicle was published. Sunak apologised for the incident and said he made a "brief error of judgment".
Speaking about his childhood during the 2024 general election campaign, Sunak said his parents "wanted to put everything into our education and that was a priority" and that he did not have Sky TV growing up.
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| Husband | Akshata Murty (m. 2009) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Rishi Sunak's combined net worth with his wife Akshata Murty is estimated to be around £640 million, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2025. This wealth primarily stems from Akshata's family ties to Infosys, a prominent Indian IT company. Sunak's own earnings as a politician and his previous career in finance have also contributed to his wealth.
Sunak introduced a programme providing £330 billion in emergency support for businesses, as well as the Coronavirus Job Retention furlough scheme for employees. This was the first time a British government had created such an employee retention scheme. The scheme was introduced on 20 March 2020 as providing grants to employers to pay 80% of a staff wage and employment costs each month, up to a total of £2,500 per person per month. The cost was estimated at £14 billion a month to run.
In July 2020, Sunak unveiled a plan for a further £30 billion of spending which included a stamp duty holiday, a cut to value-added tax (VAT) for the hospitality sector, a job retention bonus for employers and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, aimed at supporting and creating jobs in the hospitality industry. The government subsidised food and soft drinks at participating cafes, pubs and restaurants at 50%, up to £10 per person. The offer was available from 3 to 31 August on Monday to Wednesday each week. In total, the scheme subsidised £849 million in meals.
Amid the rising cost of living and energy crises, Sunak intensified efforts to respond to the crisis in May 2022, with a £5 billion windfall tax on energy companies to help fund a £15 billion support package for the public. The package included every household getting a £400 discount on energy bills, which would be in addition to a £150 council tax refund the government had already ordered. For about 8 million of the UK's lowest income households, a further £650 payment was announced. Additionally, pensioners or those with disability would qualify for extra payments, on top of the £550 that every household gets, and the £650 they would receive if they had a low income.
The July 2020 summer statement (also known as the coronavirus mini-budget) was delivered by Sunak on 8 July 2020. The purpose of the statement was to announce measures aimed at helping to promote economic recovery following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement was delivered to the House of Commons, where Sunak unveiled a spending package worth £30bn. Concerns were subsequently raised by organisations including HM Revenue and Customs and the Institute for Fiscal Studies about the statement's impact, as well as its cost-effectiveness, while at least one major retailer declined to take advantage of a financial bonus scheme intended for rehiring employees placed on furlough during the pandemic.
In his March 2021 budget, Sunak emphasized the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy, with 700,000 people losing their jobs, the economy shrinking by 10% (the largest fall in 300 years), and the highest borrowing outside wartime. The budget included an increase in the rate of corporation tax from 19% to 25% in 2023, a five-year freeze in the tax-free personal allowance and the higher rate income tax threshold, and the extension of the furlough scheme until the end of September. Sunak was the first Chancellor to raise the corporation tax rate since Labour's Denis Healey in 1974.
Sunak made what would ultimately be his final budget, his spring statement, on 23 March 2022. He cut fuel duty, removed VAT on energy saving equipment (such as solar panels and insulation) and reduced national insurance payments for small businesses and, while continuing with a planned national insurance rise in April, he promised to align the primary threshold with the basic personal income allowance as of July. He also promised a reduction in income tax in 2024. Sunak also provided some funding which was intended to help vulnerable people cope with the cost of living.
Career, Business and Investments
- Early Career: Sunak began his career in finance, working at Goldman Sachs and later at hedge funds. This experience laid the foundation for his understanding of financial markets and policies.
- Political Career: Sunak entered politics in 2015, becoming the Member of Parliament for Richmond (Yorks). He rose through the ranks, serving as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. In 2022, he became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position he held until 2024.
- Business and Investments: Sunak's wealth is also influenced by investments and business ventures. However, most of his wealth is tied to his wife's inheritance and family business interests.
He was educated at Winchester College, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar. During his time at Oxford University, Sunak joined the Conservatives. After graduating, Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at two hedge fund firms. Sunak was elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. As a backbencher, Sunak supported the successful campaign for Brexit in the 2016 European Union membership referendum. Sunak was appointed to the junior ministerial position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government by Theresa May in 2019, and was appointed to the cabinet-attending role of Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Johnson in 2019.
In 2020, Sunak was promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer. During his time in the position, Sunak was prominent in the government's financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, including the furlough and Eat Out to Help Out schemes, and the cost-of living crisis. As chancellor, Sunak received high approval and popularity ratings in the early stages of the pandemic, although his popularity later declined amid the cost-of living crisis in 2022. He resigned as chancellor in July 2022 amid a government crisis, and lost the subsequent leadership election to Liz Truss. After spending the duration of Truss's premiership on the backbenches, Sunak was elected unopposed in the leadership election to succeed Truss; aged 42 at the time he became prime minister, Sunak became the youngest prime minister since The Earl of Liverpool in 1812.
Sunak was appointed to a junior ministerial position in May's second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the 2018 cabinet reshuffle. Sunak voted for May's Brexit withdrawal agreement on all three occasions, and voted against a second referendum on any withdrawal agreement. May's withdrawal agreement was rejected by Parliament three times, leading to May announcing her resignation in May 2019.
On 13 February 2020, the day of the reshuffle, Javid resigned as Chancellor, following a meeting with Johnson. During the meeting, Johnson had offered to allow Javid to keep his position on the condition that he dismiss all his advisers at the Treasury and replace them with ones selected by 10 Downing Street. Upon resigning, Javid told the Press Association that "no self-respecting minister would accept those terms". Sunak was promoted to chancellor to replace Javid as part of Johnson's first cabinet reshuffle later that day.
The furlough scheme initially ran for three months and was backdated to 1 March. Following a three-week extension of the countrywide lockdown the scheme was extended by Sunak until the end of June 2020. At the end of May, Sunak extended the scheme until the end of October 2020. The decision to extend the job retention scheme was made to avoid or defer mass redundancies, company bankruptcies and potential unemployment levels not seen since the 1930s. In March 2021, Sunak announced that the scheme had been extended once more until September 2021.
Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty were not informed of the scheme. Some considered the scheme to be a success in boosting the hospitality industry, whilst others disagreed. A 2020 study found that the scheme contributed to a rise in COVID-19 infection, which Johnson acknowledged but the Treasury rejected. It was later said by Vallance during the COVID-19 Inquiry that Sunak had not informed medical advisers of the scheme until it was announced, whereas written evidence from Sunak said that the scheme had been discussed with medical advisers, including Vallance, and they had not objected.
On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned almost simultaneously amid a scandal surrounding the sexual harassment allegations against Chris Pincher, which arose after it was revealed that Johnson had promoted Pincher to the position of Deputy Chief Whip while knowing of the allegations beforehand. Sunak was the second of 61 Conservative MPs to resign during the government crisis. He was succeeded as chancellor by Nadhim Zahawi. Following the resignations of Sunak and Javid, numerous junior ministers and among the parliamentary private secretary (PPS) also resigned, most of whom cited a lack of honesty and integrity on the part of Johnson. In the following 24 hours, 36 MPs resigned from their roles in government and Johnson announced his resignation. In his resignation letter Sunak said:
Sunak selected his cabinet ministers after his appointment as prime minister. Jeremy Hunt was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Dominic Raab was also re-appointed as deputy prime minister and Justice Secretary, he later resigned from these roles in April 2023 and was replaced by Oliver Dowden. James Cleverly was appointed Foreign Secretary with Suella Braverman as Home Secretary. Ben Wallace was appointed Secretary of State for Defence. Michael Gove was appointed Levelling Up Secretary, Grant Shapps was appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Penny Mordaunt became Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the council. Other key appointments included Simon Hart as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip of the House of Commons, Nadhim Zahawi as Chairman of the Conservative Party, Oliver Dowden as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Thérèse Coffey as Environment Secretary, Mel Stride as Work and Pensions Secretary and Mark Harper as Transport Secretary.
Sunak's first cabinet reshuffle in February 2023 saw a significant restructuring of government departments. New departments included those for Business and Trade, Energy Security and Net Zero, and Science, Innovation and Technology. The Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy were split and merged into other departments. Ministers who joined the cabinet in the first reshuffle included Greg Hands took over as chairman from Zahawi, though later resigned and replaced by Richard Holden. Lucy Frazer became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport taking over from Donelan. Rachel Maclean left the backbenches and joined the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Sunak's last cabinet reshuffle in November 2023 saw the return of former prime minister David Cameron to government following a seven-year absence from frontline politics, replacing James Cleverly as foreign secretary. It also saw the departures of Braverman and Coffey from government and Hands from the cabinet, and the appointment of Laura Trott as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
In April 2023, Sunak's perception as a centrist contrasted with descriptions of his government's policies on transgender and migration issues as being socially conservative, with Jessica Elgot of The Guardian describing Sunak as "perhaps the most socially conservative PM of his generation". Robert Shrimsley of the Financial Times described Sunak as someone whose "easy manner, career in global finance and ethnic background might suggest a more cosmopolitan conservative", even though he is socially conservative and pragmatic. Meanwhile, the New Statesman described Sunak as uneasily straddling both liberal-conservative and national-conservative instincts. In July 2023, The Economist described him as "the most right-wing Conservative prime minister since Margaret Thatcher".
Sunak is a steadfast Southampton F.C. fan. When asked what his ideal job would be if he was not a politician, he replied that if he could "run Southampton Football Club" he would be a "very happy man".
Social Network
Rishi Sunak maintains a strong presence on social media platforms, often using them to communicate with the public and share updates about his political activities. His official Twitter handle is a key platform for his communications.
In October 2021, Sunak made his third and final budget statement, which included substantial spending promises related to science and education. The budget increased in-work support through the Universal Credit system by increasing the work allowances by £500 a year, and reducing the post-tax deduction taper rate from 63% to 55%. £560 million of investment was announced for the Levelling Up White Paper. Many of the announcements to be made in the budget were previewed before budget day, drawing criticism and anger from the House of Commons. In response to the criticism, Sunak said the budget "begins the work of preparing for a new economy".
"The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning. It has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different. I am sad to be leaving Government but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this."
On 8 July 2022, Sunak announced his candidacy in the leadership election to replace Johnson. Sunak launched his campaign in a video posted to social media, writing that he would "restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country". He said that his values were "patriotism, fairness, hard work", and pledged to "crack down on gender neutral language". During the campaign, Sunak pledged to included tax cuts only when inflation was under control, scrapping of the 5% VAT rate on household energy for one year, introducing a temporary £10 fine for patients who fail to attend GP appointments, capping of refugee numbers, and a tightening of the definition of asylum. On 20 July, Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged as the final two candidates in the contest on 20 July to be put forward to the membership for the final leadership vote. He had received the most votes in each of the series of MP votes with Sunak receiving 137 to Truss's 113 in the final round. Sunak opposed Truss' economic plans and predicted they would result in economic damage, saying "Liz, we have to be honest. Borrowing your way out of inflation isn't a plan, it's a fairytale." A spokesperson for Sunak later said: "The reality is that Truss cannot deliver a support package as well as come good on £50bn worth of unfunded, permanent tax cuts in one go. To do so would mean increasing borrowing to historic and dangerous levels, putting the public finances in serious jeopardy and plunging the economy into an inflation spiral."
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was popular by the standards of British politics, described by one analyst as having "better ratings than any politician since the heydays of Tony Blair". Various polls showed Sunak remained overwhelmingly popular among Conservative supporters and many other Britons throughout 2020. In an Ipsos MORI poll in September 2020, Sunak had the highest satisfaction score of any British chancellor since Labour's Denis Healey in April 1978, and was widely seen as the favourite to become the next Conservative leader. Sunak developed a cult media following, with jokes and gossip about his attractiveness widespread on social media and in magazines, gaining the nickname "Dishi Rishi".
Education
Sunak was educated at Winchester College and later attended the University of Oxford, where he earned a First Class Honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). He also holds an MBA from Stanford University in the United States. His educational background has been instrumental in shaping his political and financial acumen.
Sunak sought to rebuild the Conservative's reputation following a slump in popularity after the short-lived Truss ministry and a slew of controversies including Partygate that irreparably damaged Johnson's ministry, through campaigning on stabilising the economy, the Rwanda asylum plan, further strengthening the State Pension, and introducing National Service. He released the Conservative manifesto Clear Plan. Bold Action. Secure Future. on 11 June, addressing the economy, taxes, welfare, expanding free childcare, education, healthcare, environment, energy, transport, and crime. Sunak stated during the general election campaign that if his party lost the election he intended to remain as a backbench MP for the next 5 years. On 6 June 2024, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Sunak was heavily criticised for leaving commemoration events early to do an interview with ITV, including by veterans. Sunak apologised three times over the following week.
Sunak is a teetotaller. He stated in 2022 that he had seven dental fillings due to excessive consumption of Coca-Cola when he was younger, and expressed a strong preference for Mexican Coke. He was previously a governor of the East London Science School. Sunak has a Labrador called Nova and is a cricket and horse racing enthusiast. As chancellor, Sunak rose early for a daily Peloton workout and was a fan of fitness instructor Cody Rigsby. Sunak is a close friend of The Spectator former political editor James Forsyth, whom he has known since their school days. Sunak was the best man at Forsyth's wedding to the journalist Allegra Stratton, and they are godparents to each other's children. He appointed Forsyth as his political secretary in December 2022.
