What to Know About Rishi Sunak, the U.K.’s New Prime Minister
First British PM of color and also first Hindu
Rishi Sunak was elected leader of the Conservative Party on October 24, 2022. In doing so, he became the UK’s first Asian Prime Minister. So, what do we know about this relatively young British politician who has quickly risen through the ranks to lead the world’s sixth-largest economy? Here are some facts you may not know about the new British Prime Minister.
His early life
Rishi Sunak was born in 1980 in the city of Southampton on England’s south coast. He is the eldest of three children to parents of Punjabi descent. His father was a family doctor, while his mother ran a pharmacy. His first taste of economics (he would later become Chancellor of the Exchequer) was helping his mum with the pharmacy accounts.
His education
Rishi attended England’s oldest public school, Winchester, where he became the first Asian Head Boy and editor of the school paper. From Winchester, he would go on to study at Lincoln College at Oxford University. There, he studied philosophy, politics and economics, obtaining a first-class degree. He subsequently won a Fulbright Scholarship, a Cultural Exchange Program, allowing him to study at Stanford University in…
