16 FT.COM/MAGAZINE APRIL 4/ 52020
◀thatfoundhehadattemptedtosheltermillions
ofpounds in tax.ATreasury officialsaid Sunak
hadnoinvolvementwiththisortheTCIcampaign
atABNAmro.
Sunak’stime in finance made him rich–heis
saidtobeoneofthewealthiestmembersofparlia-
ment.Butevenwithouthisownresources,money
in the Sunak household is notexactlyaproblem.
WhileatStanfordhemetAkshataMurthy,whose
fatherNRNarayana Murthyfoundedoutsourc-
ing company Infosysand is India’ssixth-richest
man,withanetworthofmorethan$2bn,accord-
ingtoForbes.AkshatarunsfashionlabelAkshata
Designs and is alsoadirector ofaventurecapital
firmfoundedbyher fatherin2 010 .The couple
marriedin2009 and livewith their twoyoung
daughters inaGeorgian manor house in Sunak’s
NorthYorkshireconstituencyofRichmond, and
insouth-westLondon.S
unak’sdecisiontogointopol-
iticswas not an obviousone,
norwashischoiceofthecon-
stituencythat he hopedto
fight at the 2015 election.
Richmond,atraditional,
well-to-dofarming seat of
dalesand sweeping vistas,
hadpreviouslybeenheldbytheproudYorkshire-
manandformerToryleaderWilliamHague.
Haguerecalls that constituencyactivists had
alreadymade up their mind to choose another
Yorkshiremantofighttheseat,possiblyafarmer,
but Sunak quicklywonthemover.“Nobodyhad
heard of him but his effectonthe associationwas
dramatic,”hesays.“Theyhad in their minds the
sort ofperson theywantedand then this totally
differentperson walkedin.Totheircredit,they
didatotal U-turn. Thekeything is he was obvi-
ouslyveryintelligent without anytrace of
arrogance.That’savery unusual combination in
politics.He’sanextremecaseofthat.”
Sunak, who doesnot eatbeef, threw himself
into local life, learning to milk cows and buying
abig house inthe constituency.Predictably,he
wonRichmondbyalandslidein2015whenDavid
Cameron securedamajorityConservativegov-
ernment,but it was notyetclear what sort of
Conservativehewouldturnouttobe.
AtOxford, Sunak had joinedthe investment
society,learning to trade in markets,rather
than pursuing studentpolitics.One fellowmin-
isterbelievesthatheeventuallyenteredpolitical
lifebecause he wantedtofixthings,but that he
approachespolitics in an unideological way: “He
doesn’thaveanagenda,he’saproblemsolver.He’sFEBRUARY 13
SajidJavidresigns as chancellor,
following an ultimatumby
BorisJohnson to sack all of his
advisers.The prime minister
immediately appointsJavid’s
deputy,RishiSunak,to the post.MARCH 11
Sunak unveils his first Budget,
includinga£12bn stimulus to
tackle coronavirus. Statutory
sick paywill becoveredby
the government and the NHS
will be given‘whateverittakes’.
Hesuggeststhe virus will
cause‘temporarydisruption’
to the UK economy.MARCH 17
As the British economyshuts
down,Sunak announcesan
‘unprecedented’£350bnrescue
packageforbusinesses–including
£330bn of state-backed loans
and£20bn of handouts. Business
ratesarecancelledforayear
and mortgagesareput on
holdforuptothree months.‘Rishi’sbeenworking18hoursadayfor
weeks.He’sphysicallyandpsychologically
exhausted.Buthe’salwaystheonewho
says:“Comeon,ontothenextjob”’
ApoliticalallyRISHISUNAK’S
BUSYSIXWEEKS