Rishi Sunak to become next British Prime Minister: what we know about him

The leader of the House of Commons of Great Britain, Penny Mordaunt, has withdrawn her candidacy from the elections for the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the head of the Conservative Party. Thus, Rishi Sunak will become the new prime minister.

She posted about this on Twitter.

"We have now chosen our next Prime Minister. This decision is an historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support," the statement says.

"There is much work to be done," she added.

What is known about him?

Sunak's parents came to the UK from East Africa. Both are of Indian origin. He was born in Southampton in 1980.

Sunak's father was an NHS (National Health Service) family doctor, and his mother owned her own pharmacy.

Rishi Sunak was first elected to the British Parliament in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 and 2019.

"I have been for­tu­nate to enjoy a suc­cess­ful busi­ness career. I co-foun­ded a large invest­ment firm, work­ing with com­pan­ies from Sil­icon Val­ley to Ban­galore.

Then I used that exper­i­ence to help small and entre­pren­eur­ial Brit­ish com­pan­ies grow suc­cess­fully. From work­ing in my mum's tiny chem­ist shop to my exper­i­ence build­ing large busi­nesses, I have seen first-hand how politi­cians should sup­port free enter­prise and innov­a­tion to ensure our future prosper­ity," Rishi Sunak says.

The candidate for the post of prime minister studied at Winchester College, Oxford University, and Stanford University.

He managed to be a school director and a board member of a large youth club and devoted his time to educational programs.

In July 2019, Rishi Sunak was appointed Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Great Britain. In February 2020, he became the Minister of Finance and held this position until July 2022.

In his free time, Sunak enjoys sports, playing cricket and football and watching movies.

According to the Times, Rishi Sunak became a multi-millionaire at the age of 25 when he worked for a hedge fund that made almost £100 million after a daring stock market bid.