Berliner Boersenzeitung - Squeaky-clean Sunak: finance chief tipped as UK's first Hindu PM

EUR -
AED 4.177061
AFN 81.880746
ALL 99.252011
AMD 444.590879
ANG 2.049629
AOA 1037.158904
ARS 1294.140504
AUD 1.780172
AWG 2.047025
AZN 1.934273
BAM 1.956825
BBD 2.294803
BDT 138.092365
BGN 1.957857
BHD 0.428625
BIF 3332.101328
BMD 1.137236
BND 1.492134
BOB 7.854392
BRL 6.605289
BSD 1.136596
BTN 97.022843
BWP 15.66621
BYN 3.71968
BYR 22289.824581
BZD 2.282996
CAD 1.574122
CDF 3271.827709
CHF 0.930816
CLF 0.028662
CLP 1099.8895
CNY 8.30054
CNH 8.306047
COP 4901.486936
CRC 571.199327
CUC 1.137236
CUP 30.136753
CVE 110.766012
CZK 25.063085
DJF 202.109303
DKK 7.466602
DOP 68.805429
DZD 150.758836
EGP 58.14335
ERN 17.058539
ETB 151.279275
FJD 2.597108
FKP 0.857926
GBP 0.857288
GEL 3.11624
GGP 0.857926
GHS 17.695226
GIP 0.857926
GMD 81.308645
GNF 9843.34469
GTQ 8.754588
GYD 238.429138
HKD 8.827976
HNL 29.46444
HRK 7.529411
HTG 148.317723
HUF 408.387093
IDR 19177.096068
ILS 4.180337
IMP 0.857926
INR 97.094362
IQD 1489.779092
IRR 47906.064943
ISK 145.100319
JEP 0.857926
JMD 179.644139
JOD 0.806641
JPY 161.853129
KES 147.269042
KGS 99.205075
KHR 4566.00226
KMF 493.004864
KPW 1023.518647
KRW 1613.043966
KWD 0.34871
KYD 0.947196
KZT 594.971784
LAK 24598.413673
LBP 101896.340892
LKR 339.937138
LRD 227.418736
LSL 21.444738
LTL 3.357962
LVL 0.687903
LYD 6.220968
MAD 10.547909
MDL 19.662304
MGA 5177.713287
MKD 61.514233
MMK 2387.530139
MNT 4022.532693
MOP 9.086962
MRU 44.847502
MUR 51.277935
MVR 17.51173
MWK 1974.241931
MXN 22.425326
MYR 5.012366
MZN 72.675065
NAD 21.444738
NGN 1824.91419
NIO 41.821916
NOK 11.92757
NPR 155.236349
NZD 1.917428
OMR 0.437833
PAB 1.136596
PEN 4.279431
PGK 4.700463
PHP 64.495497
PKR 319.106406
PLN 4.278742
PYG 9097.767521
QAR 4.140223
RON 4.978935
RSD 117.291464
RUB 93.451578
RWF 1609.188866
SAR 4.267179
SBD 9.516785
SCR 16.196165
SDG 682.914226
SEK 10.940409
SGD 1.490626
SHP 0.893689
SLE 25.900597
SLL 23847.250746
SOS 649.925676
SRD 42.24872
STD 23538.488054
SVC 9.945212
SYP 14786.663141
SZL 21.402912
THB 37.923377
TJS 12.206811
TMT 3.980326
TND 3.398079
TOP 2.663519
TRY 43.420522
TTD 7.712041
TWD 36.987508
TZS 3056.319626
UAH 47.101683
UGX 4166.329832
USD 1.137236
UYU 47.664978
UZS 14768.739292
VES 91.955341
VND 29420.293975
VUV 138.799625
WST 3.16989
XAF 656.312471
XAG 0.034867
XAU 0.000342
XCD 3.073437
XDR 0.816192
XOF 653.91086
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.907389
ZAR 21.42589
ZMK 10236.488002
ZMW 32.36396
ZWL 366.189511
  • CMSD

    0.0400

    21.96

    +0.18%

  • SCS

    0.0500

    9.76

    +0.51%

  • NGG

    0.6300

    72.11

    +0.87%

  • AZN

    0.5400

    67.59

    +0.8%

  • GSK

    0.5600

    35.93

    +1.56%

  • BTI

    0.5400

    42.37

    +1.27%

  • RBGPF

    63.5900

    63.59

    +100%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    21.82

    +0.18%

  • RIO

    1.0100

    58.17

    +1.74%

  • RELX

    1.0000

    52.2

    +1.92%

  • BP

    0.6600

    28.32

    +2.33%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.47

    +0.83%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    12.4

    +1.29%

  • VOD

    0.1400

    9.31

    +1.5%

  • BCE

    0.4200

    22.04

    +1.91%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1400

    9.36

    -1.5%

Squeaky-clean Sunak: finance chief tipped as UK's first Hindu PM
Squeaky-clean Sunak: finance chief tipped as UK's first Hindu PM

Squeaky-clean Sunak: finance chief tipped as UK's first Hindu PM

British finance minister Rishi Sunak is on a meteoric trajectory that could, if Boris Johnson is forced out, propel him next door to 10 Downing Street to become Britain's first Hindu prime minister.

Text size:

It would mark a historic landmark, for a descendant of immigrants from Britain's old empire in India and East Africa, to take command of the world's fifth largest economy.

A details-oriented policy wonk, the 41-year-old has promoted a carefully curated image on social media since he took over as chancellor of the exchequer two years ago at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

In India, he is better known through his wife Akshata. She is the daughter of Indian tycoon Narayana Murthy, the billionaire co-founder of information-technology group Infosys.

Already wealthy through his prior business career, Sunak was named as Britain's first Hindu chancellor on February 13, 2020, and swears his oath of allegiance as an MP on the Bhagavad Gita.

Later that year, he marked the Hindu festival of Diwali by lighting oil lamps on the front step of his official residence at 11 Downing Street -- while urging other Hindus to stick to England's then Covid lockdown.

That same evening of November 13, 2020, Johnson and his partner Carrie were allegedly violating the lockdown by partying with friends to celebrate the downfall of his then-chief advisor Dominic Cummings.

The apparent rule-breaking and history of mendacity attached to the "partygate" premier are in contrast to the teetotal Sunak, who admits only to a fondness for Coca-Cola and sugary confectionaries.

- Traditional Tory -

Sunak was barely known to the British public when Johnson made him chancellor, after only five years in Conservative politics. Covid-19 was then spreading, but not yet grounds for panic.

A month later, Johnson ordered the first nationwide lockdown, forcing the young chancellor to craft a massive financial rescue package to safeguard millions of jobs.

But while UK unemployment is now falling, Britons under Sunak's watch are also facing a cost-of-living squeeze with inflation accelerating at the fastest pace in decades.

While Johnson appears happy to splash the cash, Sunak has earned plaudits from Tory backbenchers for insisting that future generations must not be made to pay the bill.

Fiscal rectitude is key, he says, and his family values mark another return to Tory tradition after the thrice-married Johnson.

Sunak is also the first person born in the 1980s to hold one of the so-called four great offices of state: prime minister, chancellor, foreign secretary and home secretary.

He is the member of parliament for Richmond in Yorkshire, northern England -- a safe Conservative seat he took over in 2015 from former party leader and foreign secretary William Hague, who described Sunak as an "exceptional individual".

Theresa May gave the Brexit supporter his first job in government in January 2018, making him a junior minister for local government, parks and troubled families.

- Waiter to wealth -

Sunak's grandparents were from Punjab in northern India and emigrated to Britain from eastern Africa in the 1960s.

They arrived with "very little", Sunak told MPs in his maiden speech in 2015.

Sunak's father was a family doctor in Southampton on the southern English coast, and his mother ran a local pharmacy.

Born on May 12, 1980 in Southampton, he studied at Winchester College, one of Britain's leading private boarding schools, where he was head boy.

After waiting tables in a local Indian restaurant, Sunak studied at the University of Oxford, graduating with a first-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

In 2006, Sunak gained a master's degree in business administration from Stanford University in California, on a Fulbright scholarship.

He met Akshata at Stanford and they lived in California and then returned to Britain, where he worked in finance for Goldman Sachs before making millions in hedge funds.

The Sunaks have two young daughters -- along with a photogenic dog -- and the minister's Instagram-ready profile has earned him the media nickname of "Dishy Rishi".

But if Conservative MPs do tire of Johnson, Sunak's past investments and relative lack of experience will come under the spotlight.

(G.Gruner--BBZ)