Rishi Sunak

About

Rishi Sunak is a British conservative politician. After becoming a Member of Parliament in 2015, he quickly rose in power and influence within the Conservative Party, culminating with his ascension to the position of Prime Minister in late October 2022 after the resignation of Liz Truss. Sunak rapidly became the subject of memes and discussions online following his rise to PM of the U.K., which was also widely covered by global media outlets.

History

Rishi Sunak was born on May 12th, 1980, in Southampton, England,^[1] and he is notably of Punjabi descent. In 2015, Sunak was elected as a Member of Parliament in Richmond, Yorkshire. He quickly rose to power and influence in the Conservative Party in the following years. In July 2019, he became Chief Secretary of the Treasury, and in February 2020, Boris Johnson named him Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was praised during the COVID-19 pandemic for introducing a job-retention program in the U.K. to prevent widespread unemployment.

However, in July 2022, Sunak resigned from the position, citing his disagreement with Johnson's economic policy philosophy. The resignation was considered one of the death knells to Johnson's term as Prime Minister. Sunak was seen as a potential candidate to replace Johnson as head of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister but was ultimately beaten out by Liz Truss in September 2022.

Rise To Prime Minister

Following the October 20th, 2022, resignation of Liz Truss after a brief and disastrous reign as Prime Minister, Sunak stood out as a potential candidate to replace her as head of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. His chief competition included Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson. However, both Johnson and Mordaunt withdrew in a matter of days, making Sunak the official new head of the Conservative Party on October 24th^[2] and de facto new Prime Minister. Sunak notably became the first Asian Prime Minister in the history of the U.K.

Sunak took over as Prime Minister at a time when the Conservative Party was divided and the country was largely in favor of the Labour Party, due in large part to the Conservative Party's then-recent string of scandals and unsteady leadership.^[5] This led to increased calls for a general election to be held in the U.K., though that was reportedly unlikely to happen at the time, as a mandated general election was not due until January 2025.

Controversies

Though he was broadly popular during his tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunak has often been criticized by some for his exorbitant wealth. He and his wife Akshata Murty have a combined wealth of £730 million (~$720.5 million USD), making them the 222nd richest people in the world.^[3] Murty was involved in a scandal after it was revealed she had avoided paying U.K. taxes by applying for a "non-domiciled" status. She later stated she would pay U.K. taxes so as not to be a "distraction" for her husband.^[4]

Related Memes

Sue You Are Shouting At Tea

On February 21st, 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak posted a photo of himself to Twitter next to a bag of Yorkshire Tea with the caption "Quick Budget prep break making tea for the team. Nothing like a good Yorkshire brew" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 7,700 likes in six days. The post was met with some backlash from those who do not agree with Sunak. For example, on February 24th, @YorkshireTea tweeted, "So it's been a rough weekend. On Friday, the Chancellor shared a photo of our tea. Politicians do that sometimes (Jeremy Corbyn did it in 2017). We weren't asked or involved – and we said so the same day. Lots of people got angry with us all the same" (shown below). The tweet garnered over 53,700 likes and 8,200 retweets in three days.

The next day, Twitter user Sue Lane (@sulaAlice) tweeted a thread of complaints to which @YorkshireTea responded "Sue, you're shouting at tea. Please do look after yourself and try to be kind to others. We're going to mute you now" (shown below). The tweet accumulated over 63,800 likes and 10,200 retweets in two days.

Search Interest

External References