- Rishi Sunak, the new UK prime minister, once worked as a junior analyst at Goldman Sachs in London.
- He spent around three years at the bank, covering US stocks including railways and media, the FT reported.
Rishi Sunak, the UK's new prime minister, was once an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Sunak, who was voted in as leader of the Conservative Party on Monday — meaning he will become prime minister this week — spent around three years at the US bank, after which he worked at one hedge fund, cofounded another, and then moved into politics.
Sunak graduated from Oxford University with a bachelors degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics — a degree known for producing British politicians. While at university, he was president of the university's investment society.
After graduating, Sunak began working at Goldman in London as a junior analyst, where he covered US stocks including railways and media, former colleagues told the Financial Times. The sources spoke highly of him and told the FT that Sunak's immediate superiors were disappointed when he left the bank in 2004.
Sunak left Goldman Sachs to get an MBA at Stanford University. After finishing his studies, Sunak worked at the hedge fund TCI, before setting his own up – Theleme Partners – with a colleague.
Sunak also served as a director at Catamaran Ventures, an investment firm owned by his wife Akshata Murty, though he resigned before becoming an MP in 2015. The company's registered address is close to Sunak and Murty's home in Kensington.
As well as in London, Sunak has worked in California and India, The Evening Standard reported.
Sunak has served as MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire since 2015. He became chancellor of the exchequer under Boris Johnson in February 2020, shortly before the UK entered its first COVID-19 lockdown, but resigned in July 2022 amid the Partygate scandal.
Sunak ran in the Conservative Party leadership contest in the summer after Johnson resigned but lost to Liz Truss, who ultimately resigned herself just six weeks after assuming the role.
The party held its second leadership race in the space of just a few months, and Sunak became the UK's presumptive prime minister on Monday after his only remaining rival, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew.