Rishi Sunak & Akshata Murty
Politics
BRITAIN’s first prime minister of colour Rishi
Sunak is a self-confessed geek and wasn’t very
naughty at school.
He admitted as much to ITV’s Anuskha
Asthana (see list no. 65) in a much more up close
and personal interview than he usually does.
Screened earlier this year, she called him an
“overachiever” in her written profile piece in
the Times – any self-respecting Asian parent
would tell you there is no such thing!
And the bar is very high now for any ambi-
tious south Asian youngster – you can’t get
above the prime minister – unless you, per-
haps, marry into the Royal Family.
More seriously, Asthana is right – head boy at
Winchester, one of Britain’s most venerated
public schools, first-class degree from Oxford,
Fulbright scholar to Stanford in the US, a popu-
lar chancellor during Covid (when he created
the furlough scheme) and now prime minister
and any south Asian following in those illustri-
ous political footsteps will only (always) be No 2
now.
So what sort of man is Rishi Sunak – espe-
cially away from the rough tumble of politics
and the pressures of leading a country?
A geek – his attention to detail is well docu-
mented. He reads and absorbs everything and
often asks for more than he is given and is
extremely diligent and hardworking.
No doubt these are qualities most British
south Asian households espouse – the refrain
being that you have to work twice as hard as
someone from a majority background to get to
even the same place.
All the while, Sunak had his eyes on the top
post – elected to parliament in 2015 for the con-
stituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire.
Many tipped him for the top but perhaps
didn’t see how quickly it would all happen as
some parts of the Conservative Party pressed
the self-destruct button and didn’t deign to
look back. He has already surpassed Liz Truss
in number of days in office – and if he goes to
the polls later this year, he can say quite confi-
dently that he brought purpose and calm to the
government and signed a major agreement
with the EU (the Windsor Framework) and
brought squabbling MPs in Northern Ireland
back to Stormont and representative govern-
ment. Those are not bad achievements. Of his
five pledges, we have heard a little less this year
and we shall come to that.
Asthana put him on the spot in her pro-
gramme, saying he must have dreamt of being
prime minister – some at Oxford claimed he
had talked of such, but his reaction to Asthana
was natural and interesting.
“No,” he said quickly – “because you didn’t
have role models like that.” He saw newscasters
in the mould of Sir Trevor McDonald and Moi-
ra Stewart break through in the media, but as
far as politics went there was no one like him –
it was only in 1987 that Keith Vaz entered par-
liament along with Diane Abbot, Paul Boateng
and Bernie Grant representing the first ethnic
MPs to enter the Commons in the modern era.
No one got into government until quite a lot
later.
Growing up in Southampton, Sunak was
acutely aware of racism and prejudice. He ad-
mitted to facing such when he was a kid at
school and then in a fast-food joint when his
younger siblings were abused. “It hurts in a way
that other things don’t,” he said powerfully of
the racism they suffered on ITV.
His parents – his father is a GP and his moth-
er a pharmacist – were keen their children got
on and made the most of opportunities.
Almost all immigrants have an innate under-
standing of this underlying - and sometimes
overwhelming impulse – you uproot yourself
for the betterment of your children – even if it
causes you pain and suffering, on a personal
level.
Whatever slights and anger (and some-
times even violence) you have to endure,
your children will not experience the
same: they will achieve your dreams.
Sending him to Winchester required
sacrifice and toil – his parents took out
loans and worked extra hours to afford the
fees which today are around £37,000 a year
for a day pupil; (and borders pay nearly
£50,000). Many Asian households still
put a premium on educa-
tion and attaining qual-
ifications and entering
a stable profession
like medicine, the
law or accountan-
cy. Immigrants
wherever they
are value stabili-
ty.
When Sunak
was presented
with the GG2
Hammer
Award at the
GG2 Leader-
ship & Di-
versity
Awards
last year,
he joked
that it
made up
for the fact
that his par-
ents really
wanted him
to be a doc-
tor.
At Oxford
University,
he was studi-
ous and im-
peccably be-
haved – unlike some
of his fellow Conserva-
tive colleagues. He had
an internship with the
party while he studied
at Oxford.
From there, he got
straight into work and
was employed by US
bank and trading house, Goldman Sachs.
In 2004, he decided to pursue an MBA at
Stanford University in California and was a Ful-
bright scholar.
It was here that he was to meet Akshata
Murty who was also studying at Stanford. It
isn’t clear whether they hit it off from the very
beginning or how much young Rishi knew
about Akshata – famously, she is the heiress of
one of India’s richest and most brilliant men.
Her father Narayana is behind the Indian glob-
al tech giant that is Infosys. She has a share in
the company and is widely reported to be a bil-
lionaire in her own right. Her parents are cele-
brated figures in India – her mother
Sudha is an author and broke
barriers as a young engineer-
ing graduate who worked ini-
tially on the shop floor and
was one of the first women
to do so in the 1970s in In-
dia. The couple’s early trials
and tribulations are con-
tained within a new best-sell-
ing book, Uncommon Love:
The Early Life of Sudha and
Naryana Murthy by Chitra Ba-
nerjee Divakaruni and what
emerges is how driven Akshata’s
mother was – it was she who
provided the seed capital
for Narayana to start
Infosys.
So, Akshata
comes from a
hugely successful
and wealthy family
and she too has
ventured into
business creating a
fashion label and
heading up the
family’s UK wealth
office at one time.
The couple set-
tled in California
after graduating
and he became a
millionaire in-
vestment man-
ager before
moving into
hedge fund
management.
He worked for
the Conserva-
tive Party just
before being
elected to
parliament
on their re-
turn to the
UK.
Some in
his close
circle see
Akshata as an
asset – always su-
perbly turned out
and supportive,
they think she
GG2 Power List
10
GG2 Power List | 2024
First amongst equals
Prime minister battles to navigate tough political landscape
UNDER PRESSURE:
Rishi Sunak