Rishi Sunak became the first Indian-origin politician to become prime minister of the United Kingdom. The 42-year-old was the favourite to win the Conservative Party leadership race with more than 140 supporters but it was decided even before the election as Penny Mordaunt bowed out.
Sunak’s grandfather – Ramdas Sunak – was the one who migrated to Nairobi in 1935. The Sunak family originally hailed from Gujranwala (in present-day Pakistan) but they decided to shift their base to Kenya where he worked as a clerk. His wife – Suhag Rani Sunak – joined him in 1937.
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Sunak’s maternal grandfather – Raghubir Sain Berry MBE – was a tax official in Tanzania and it was in 1966 when he decided to move to the United Kingdom along with his wife and three children.
The Sunak family almost moved to the UK in the 1960s but the exact data is not known.
Sunak’s father Yashvir Sunak worked as a National Health Service general practitioner while his mother Usha Sunak ran a chemist shop. Both were of Indian descent but they spent the majority of their lives in the UK. Sunak was also born at the Southampton General Hospital in 1980.
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Sunak got married to Indian tech company Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata after the couple met at Stanford University in the United States while pursuing their MBA.
The couple has two daughters – Krishna, 11, and Anoushka, 9.
Following Liz Truss’ resignation from the post, Sunak was chosen to lead the Tories and he once again created history by taking his oath on the Bhagavad Gita at the UK parliament.
