Rishi Sunak, former British finance minister, today said that he would be running to replace Boris Johnson as the UK Prime Minister.
Johnson yesterday announced that he would step down as prime minister.Someone has to grip this moment and make the right decisions. That’s why I’m standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and your prime minister,” Sunak said in a campaign video released on Twitter.
Sunak is the son-in-law of Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy, and among the frontrunners for the top job as the contest begins to find a replacement to Boris Johnson.Sunak’s resignation from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet helped spark an exodus of other ministers, eventually leading to Johnson announcing his decision to step down.
The rules and timetable for the contest to replace Johnson are due to be set out next week by a Conservative Party committee.
However Sunak is not the only Indian origin politician in the race to succeed Johnson.
Attorney general Suella Braverman MP was the first to formally declare a leadership bid even before Boris Johnson quit, when she said live on TV on Wednesday night: “If there is a leadership contest, I will put my name into the ring. He was praised for a rescue package for the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, including a jobs retention programme, which prevented mass unemployment, that could cost as much as 410 billion pounds.
But he faced pressure following revelations that his wife, Akshata Murthy, avoided paying UK taxes on her overseas income, and that he held on to his US green card while serving in government.
