Pupil becomes the master as Star Wars fan takes over at No11
Rising star who supersedes Sajid Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer is one of the richest MPS in Parliament and is praised by colleagues as a hard worker who always delivers results
RISHI SUNAK, widely tipped as a “rising star” in Tory ranks, was yesterday catapulted into the second-biggest job in government.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury was widely tipped for a promotion as one of the go-to ministers for public appearances during the election campaign.
He represented Boris Johnson in a seven-way televised debate, and in total made 14 broadcast appearances during the campaign.
However, he was first noticed as a rising star in 2018 as a local government minister.
One Tory MP told The Daily Telegraph: “He genuinely impressed a lot of MPS when he did the Local Government Finance Settlement in 2018 – usually the trickiest Bill after the Budget to deliver in terms of handling.”
At 39, Mr Sunak is now the secondyoungest Chancellor in recent history, after George Osborne who got the job just 12 days short of his 39th birthday.
In 2015, Mr Sunak was elected to represent the safe seat of Richmond, North Yorks, succeeding Lord Hague.
During the campaign, Mr Sunak was nicknamed “Maharaja of the Dales”.
Mr Sunak voted to leave the EU and campaigned for Brexit during the referendum. At the time, he said his experiences in business, including “working around the world, investing in countries like the US, India and Brazil” convinced him of the opportunities for Britain outside the EU. Mr Sunak’s father was a GP and his mother a pharmacist with her own chemist’s shop.
Like Sajid Javid, he helped out in the family business, doing the VAT receipts.
The new Chancellor had a goldplated education: Winchester College followed by Oxford University and an MBA at Stanford, where he met his wife, Akshata Murthy, the daughter of N.R. Narayana Murthy, the Indian billionaire.
Mr Sunak, believed to be one of the richest members of Parliament, has two young daughters.
Mr Sunak lists his hobbies as keeping fit, playing cricket and football and watching films. A Hindu, Mr Sunak takes his Commons oath on the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Sanskrit text.
He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars. He worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and later for hedge fund firm Theleme Partners. He brought his City experience to the Treasury, insisting on a Bloomberg computer terminal in his office. Treasury officials have praised his time as chief secretary and his background in finance.
“The conversations are shorter,” as one civil servant told The Telegraph in November.
He joined the Treasury ministerial team last summer after 18 months as a housing minister.
His profile quickly rose in the Treasury, as Mr Sunak steered the fastestever turnaround for a Spending Review and played a key role in no-deal planning, attending nearly all of the daily planning meetings – codenamed XO –
‘He genuinely impressed a lot of MPS when he did the Local Government Finance Settlement in 2018’
‘He’s ferociously intelligent and thoroughly decent at the same time’
‘He generally likes to keep his head down and get on with the job but he will always go the extra mile for a colleague’
‘He’s going to be a eunuch with the Treasury. He’s knifed Javid in the back for six months’
chaired by Michael Gove. He negotiated ministers’ requests for an extra £54billion of public spending down to £13 billion. The entire process was completed in a record-breaking three weeks and marked a new approach to public finances, with no department’s day-to-day budget cut for the first time since 2002.
The speed of the process was largely down to Mr Sunak’s good relationship with No 10.
He quickly became the Treasury’s main liaison with Downing Street, while the then chancellor Mr Javid was plagued by reports of tension with Mr Johnson and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
Mr Sunak has a reputation as a hard worker, who puts long hours in and delivers results. In the run-up to the
Spending Review, his officials worked round the clock to meet the deadline, fuelled by Skittles and Nandos brought in by Mr Sunak.
Uber records showed a core team of 15 people was going home after midnight each day, only to be back for a meeting with Mr Sunak at 8.30am.
One ally in Parliament last night told The Telegraph: “He’s ferociously intelligent and thoroughly decent at the same time. He generally likes to keep his head down and get on with the job but he will always go the extra mile for a colleague.”
In Cabinet meetings, the Prime Minister increasingly began to rely on Mr Sunak. One minister told the Financial Times in December: “In Cabinet, Boris will often turn to Rishi first on the economy.” No10 was keen to point out how well Mr Sunak and Mr Javid worked together.
It was a point Mr Sunak was also highlighted yesterday after his appointment, saying: “My predecessor and good friend Saj did a fantastic job in his time at the Treasury.
“He was a pleasure to work with and I hope to be able to build on his great work going forward.”
Their differences included their approaches to spending.
Sources close to the Treasury last night said Mr Sunak was more keen on loosening spending, while Mr Javid argued against promising too much in the manifesto – a position that led to a clash with Mr Cummings.
However, critics said Mr Sunak’s closeness to Downing Street could work against him. One MP described him as Mr Cummings’ “poodle” and said: “He’s going to be a eunuch with the Treasury.
“He’s knifed Javid in the back for six months. Good luck to him.”
Others argued Mr Sunak will be in a strong position, pointing out that politically it would be very difficult for Mr Johnson to get rid of two chancellors.
David Gauke, the former justice secretary, said: “The new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will be accused of being a stooge.”
However, he will know that to succeed as Chancellor, he will have to assert his strength and independence.”
While Mr Sunak is still relatively unknown in and outside Westminster, his stratospheric rise will reinforce those MPS who think he could one day become prime minister.