<ul class="summary-list"><li>Keir Starmer is the UK's new prime minister after his Labour Party won Thursday's election.</li><li>He's had help opening up about his personal story from an unlikely source: Barack Obama.</li></ul>Britons have voted and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-labour-party-back-in-power-rishi-sunak-concede-defeat-2024-7">UK is posed up for a radical change in leadership</a>.The left-wing Labour Party has won more than 400 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, which means its leader, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/keir-starmer-wins-new-labour-party-leader-replaces-jeremy-corbyn-2020-4">Keir Starmer</a>, is to be prime minister and 14 years of Conservative Party rule is over.Starmer declared, "Change begins now," at a rally early Friday morning as results poured in, but his victory came despite the fact he's often described as lacking <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/06/keir-starmer-tony-blair-reform-new-labour-90s">charisma</a>.Jill Rutter, a research fellow at the London research group UK in a Changing Europe, had told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/world/europe/keir-starmer-uk-election.html">The New York Times</a> he "does look relatively prime-ministerial," but added, "He's not going to set hearts racing."Starmer entered politics relatively late, first being elected to the UK's House of Commons at age 52 in 2015. Before that, he was a lawyer who rose to become the chief prosecutor for England and Wales; he had a big public profile but no need to ask the public for votes.As a candidate for high office, Starmer has had no choice but to tell his back story. After becoming Labour leader in 2020, he stressed his humble roots, often describing how his father worked as a toolmaker and his mother a nurse while they raised their children in a "pebble-dash semi," a small home adjoining another property.But Starmer has seemed, at times, ill at ease with the public display of emotion needed to tell his story, despite it being a political asset that offers a stark contrast with the outgoing prime minister <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-uk-prime-minister-goldman-sachs-banker-hedge-fund-2022-10">Rishi Sunak</a>.Sunak, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of the Indian billionaire and Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list/profile/article/rishi-sunak-and-akshata-murty-net-worth-sunday-times-rich-list-blp6mk660">Sunday Times</a> reported in May that the couple's net worth was £651 million, which is about $830 million.In recent months, Starmer has made a concerted effort to appear more relatable to voters and emphasize that contrast.He's been helped by an unlikely mentor: former US President <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-20-presidents-in-us-history-according-to-historians-2017-2">Barack Obama</a>.<h2 id="cbd8fb6f-43af-4c81-8889-3da7e252cf0d">Obama encouraged Starmer to be vulnerable</h2>In a series of Zoom calls, Obama, who served as US president from 2009 until 2017, encouraged Starmer to become more vulnerable and open with the public and has spoken with the Labour leader about the difficult decisions he made in the Oval Office.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/former-us-president-barack-obama-labour-party-leader-keir-starmer-open-up-be-yourself/">Politico</a> reported that the pair were first introduced by David Lammy, one of Starmer's key lieutenants, who will become his foreign secretary if Labour wins.Speaking on Politico's "Power Play" podcast in March, Lammy said he and Obama had known each other for 20 years since meeting at an event for Black alumni of Harvard University.When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-68597108">Obama dropped in to meet Sunak in March</a>, he also met Lammy for dinner, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/18/barack-obama-rishi-sunak-informal-talks-downing-street/">The Telegraph</a> reported.Lammy said Obama's influence on Starmer was apparent when the Labour leader recently opened up about his family's backstory "much more comfortably than perhaps we saw a few years ago.""And I know that Obama has strong views that Keir should do that," he added.<div type="image" title="David Lammy and Keir Starmer talking." height="683" width="1024" msid="111492696" hostid="261"></div>Lammy was speaking after Starmer gave an extended interview to <a target="_blank" href="https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-wishes-he-addressed-distant-relationship-with-late-father-13092654">Sky News</a>, in which he described how his mother had Still's disease, a rare type of inflammatory arthritis.He said his father spent most of his time looking after her, and this had "squeezed" his "emotional space" and made him more emotionally distant from his children."I probably should have addressed that before he passed, and I wish I had, but I didn't," Starmer added.<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/kitty_donaldson?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Kitty Donaldson</a>, a political journalist in the UK, told Business Insider this interview marked a turning point in Starmer's public display of emotion."Up until that point, Starmer had been very stiff, very practical, very straitlaced," Donaldson said, adding that Obama "unlocked" and "gave permission" for Starmer to open up."In terms of his leadership style, it's had an impact," she said. "Obama is quite laid back. This campaign has been more laid back than we have seen, and he seemed to enjoy going up and down the country speaking to people."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/political-science/research/centre-us-politics-cusp/find-expert/dr-tom-packer">Tom Packer</a>, an honorary research fellow at University College London who specializes in US politics and elections, told BI that Starmer's backstory had become a "theme of the campaign."He said it helped challenge the idea that all UK politicians come from a "posh background" without struggle.<h2 id="1aed6752-c6d7-4a73-9ed2-718373438522">Obama could advise Starmer on how to deal with Trump</h2>Obama's and Starmer's relationship is likely to continue if Starmer wins the election on Thursday.Obama had helped Starmer since at least 2021, when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/12/barack-obama-gives-tips-to-keir-starmer-and-david-lammy-on-how-labour-can-regain-winning-ways">The Guardian</a> reported that they were involved in two hours' worth of private talks with Lammy about how center-left parties could return to power.Speaking on the "<a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/keir-starmer-international-uk-labour-leader-puts-the/id1202281739?i=1000628653155">Power Play</a>" podcast in September, Starmer said Obama was the US president he spoke to "most frequently.""I've spoken to him a number of times, and his analysis on the world is always interesting, his challenges, and just going through with him what he faced, how he rose to the challenges," Starmer said."It is always useful to test my ideas on people who won elections, people who've taken difficult decisions in power because that helps me think about how we might approach some of the decisions we might have to take if we do win that election," he added.Packer said Obama and Starmer's relationship made sense, given the decadeslong ties between the UK's Labour Party and the US Democratic Party.Donaldson meanwhile suggested Starmer might seek advice from Obama on dealing with Donald Trump if the former president is reelected in November.<div type="image" title="Donald Trump and Joe Biden standing behind podiums in a CNN studio." height="683" width="1024" msid="111492698" hostid="261"></div>Trump is leading the polls, and Biden's shaky performance during the first presidential debate on June 27 has led Democrats to panic and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jill-biden-support-joe-could-be-damaging-expert-step-down-2024-7">urge him to step aside for another candidate</a>.Speaking to Politico last September, Starmer said his team had been in talks with Biden, adding, "It's clear what my desired outcome would be."Packer told BI that Starmer and his team wouldn't want to put "their eggs in one basket" and would be eager to secure "some kind of relationship with Trump that works," regardless of their political differences.Trump "finds it hard to be nasty about people that are nice to him," Packer said.He added that if Starmer were "nice," a Labour government could end up with a good relationship with Trump "even if they disagree with him on policy."He noted that Starmer had been careful to avoid making anti-Trump comments during his election campaign.In an interview with BBC Radio 5 last week, Starmer was asked whether he agreed with Lammy's 2018 description of Trump as a "woman-hating neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath" and a "profound threat to the international order.""Those aren't words that I've ever used," Starmer responded."I know the job of the person who leads our country is to deal with the leaders of other countries, who are elected by their people. You don't always get to choose the leaders of other countries," he continued.Lammy has also softened his stance. He told a summit in May that Trump's position on European defense was "misunderstood" and he merely "wants Europeans to do more to ensure a better defended Europe," according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-misunderstood-uk-labour-party/">Politico</a>.After <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hush-money-trial-verdict-2024-5">Trump was convicted of paying Stormy Daniels hush money</a>, Starmer called it "unprecedented."But he said, "We will work with whoever is elected," adding, "We have a special relationship with the US that transcends whoever the president is."Correction: July 4, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled N. R. Narayana Murthy's surname as Murty. It also misstated the date of Trump and Biden's first presidential debate. It was on June 27, not June 28.

How Obama mentored the new UK prime minister to help him tell his story

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A TikToker said she saw Rishi Sunak at a Taylor Swift-themed SoulCycle class in LA.</li><li>The prime minister has previously confessed to being a Swiftie and is on vacation in California.</li></ul>A TikToker said she came across an unexpected Swiftie at a 7 a.m. Taylor Swift-themed SoulCycle class in Santa Monica, California — UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.UK officials wouldn't elaborate on Sunak's exercise routine, but Sunak was on vacation in Santa Monica at the time the post described.The TikToker — Hannah Harmelin — said she realized somebody important was in the class because of heavy security there. She said the lights were kept dim, and she couldn't figure out who it was at first — hoping that it could be a celebrity, or even Swift herself, who was in LA at the time.She seemed a little disappointed to realize it was Sunak. "So the class ends, and I'm looking around trying to see where she is. Turns out it was the prime minister of the UK. Apparently, he's a Swiftie," she said.Sunak, who took office last year, has previously <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-interview-the-chancellor-on-all-that-he-loves-in-the-arts-77b6kng06" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flexed his Swiftie credentials</a>, revealing that he and his wife have seen her in concert before.His love of cycling classes with poppy soundtracks is also well-documented: <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9710679/The-Rishi-Sunak-workout-Chancellor-starts-day-6am-Peloton-session-Britney-Spears.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sunak has spoken before</a> about starting his days with a 6 a.m. Peloton session, complete with a Britney Spears playlist.A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street, the office of the UK prime minister, declined to comment, citing Sunak's privacy while on a family vacation.Sunak told the UK radio station LBC that he was heading to California to spend part of his summer vacation at his £5 million, or about $6.3 million, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rishi-sunak-holiday-california-b2386308.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penthouse apartment in Santa Monica</a>.<div type="image" title="From left: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Anoushka Sunak, Akshata Murthy, and Krishna Sunak at Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California." height="3487" width="5000" msid="102452404" hostid="261"></div>Sunak has ties to California beyond his property there, having studied for an MBA at Stanford before his political career.It was there he met his wife, the billionaire Akshata Murthy, whose father founded the IT giant Infosys.Sunak has often expressed his love of music and pop culture. He previously said he <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-interview-the-chancellor-on-all-that-he-loves-in-the-arts-77b6kng06" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had to abandon a trip to Coachella</a> because he was appointed the UK finance minister, and recently weighed in on the "<a href="https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1682812164111728643" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbenheimer</a>"<a href="https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1682812164111728643" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> debate </a>over whether to watch "<a href="https://www.insider.com/barbie-oppenheimer-plan-double-feature-2023-6">Barbie</a>" <a href="https://www.insider.com/barbie-oppenheimer-plan-double-feature-2023-6">or</a> "<a href="https://www.insider.com/barbie-oppenheimer-plan-double-feature-2023-6">Oppenheimer</a>" in the cinema first.

TikToker says she spotted the prime minister of the UK at her 7 a.m. Taylor Swift-themed SoulCycle class in Santa Monica

Hiya! <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a> checking in from NYC.We've got <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3a4f3808-19fc-4a6e-85b7-ea0df18f079b?accessToken=zwAAAYQLvBfOkc86TzgIGfxKbtOFt-oN8Y8Hmw.MEUCIExUC9mldQPfCLoybJyQPRTu4hZJxz49mbmaZkGWYkYTAiEAwU_foyQ4dMxZ0ue9cegtUWVng2PYV3LcGEf8wl-SQ_o&amp;sharetype=gift&amp;token=65fc0ca9-955d-4ffa-bfd9-8c1bad724ade">famous authors yelling at Jamie Dimon</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-russians-offered-caribbean-shortcut-us-visas-grenada-passport-2022-10">rich Russians heading to your favorite all-inclusive</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-losses-facebook-brad-gerstner-open-letter-2022-10">more people complaining about Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse infatuation</a>. But first, there's a new top man in the UK. If this was forwarded to you,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-on-wall-street"> sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-uk-prime-minister-goldman-sachs-junior-analyst-finance-2022-10"></a>1. Can Wall Street fix the UK?The UK has a new prime minister — no, <a href="https://www.insider.com/liz-truss-resignation-wet-lettuce-won-daily-star-pm-2022-10">it's not the head of lettuce</a> — and he comes from the world of Wall Street!Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, officially became prime minister on Tuesday after meeting with King Charles. The 42-year-old is the UK's first non-white leader and the youngest person to take on the role in more than 200 years.But for the purposes of this newsletter, we're going to focus on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-uk-prime-minister-goldman-sachs-junior-analyst-finance-2022-10">his former life in finance</a>.Sunak's early career reads like a typical Wall Street mogul:-Spend three years working as a junior analyst at a bank (Goldman Sachs). Check.-Get an MBA from a prestigious university; bonus points if you get a fancy scholarship. (Stanford; <a href="https://fulbright75.org/leading-the-uks-covid-19-response-draws-on-a-lifetime-of-making-a-difference/">Fulbright Program</a>). Check and check.-Return to finance to work on the buy side (London-based activist hedge-fund TCI). Check.-Join a startup hedge fund (Theleme Partners). Check.That checklist seemingly points toward a long career in finance, but Sunak had different ideas. In 2015, he won a seat in the British parliament and the rest is history.A politician who started their career on Wall Street might not seem all that surprising in the US, but it's a bit of a novelty in the UK, at least at the highest of levels. Sunak is the first British PM with a background in hedge funds, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/dont-expect-britains-first-hedge-fund-premiership-to-be-smooth-or-enjoyable-ed-conway-12729246">according to Sky News</a>. He's also caught people's attention <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/24/rishi-sunak-net-worth/">for being extremely wealthy</a>. Sunak and Akshata Murty, his wife and the daughter of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy, have a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-first-uk-politician-to-enter-sunday-times-rich-list-2022-5">combined net worth of roughly 730 million pounds</a>.In fact, Sunak is so rich that people are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/22/rishi-sunak-rich-730m-fortune-prime-minister">asking if he's actually too wealthy to be PM</a>. That's the type of criticism I'd like to receive. Now, whether all that experience helps Sunak fix the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-economy-crisis-us-outlook-uk-liz-truss-policy-blunder-2022-10">dumpster fire that is the British economy</a> remains to be seen. <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-hedge-funds-financial-career-outside-politics-1766725">A report from iNews this June</a> questioned the type of work Sunak did while at TCI, citing his lack of regulatory approvals.But isn't that what politics is all about? Talking a big game but never delivering when it matters.And remember, if all else fails, there is always the head of lettuce.In other news:<a href="https://www.insider.com/erling-haaland-on-course-to-destroy-premier-league-goalscoring-records-2022-10"></a><div type="image" title="Erling Haaland of Manchester City celebrates their sides fifth goal and their hat trick during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium." height="1333" width="1778" msid="95080423" hostid="261" sizebytes="91772"></div>2. Remember that UBS-Wealthfront deal that fell apart last month? Turns out that was a microcosm of a much bigger battle going on at the Swiss bank between its CEO and the head of the bank's wealth business. Bloomberg has the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-23/ubs-s-rivalry-at-the-very-top-is-playing-out-underground?sref=5xrDvJna&amp;utm_content=markets&amp;cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-markets#xj4y7vzkg">full scoop on the clashing ideologies of the two UBS execs.</a>3. Malcom Gladwell has reached his tipping point with JPMorgan. The best-selling author sent a letter to Jamie Dimon criticizing the CEO for how the bank has treated Gwen Campbell, his financial advisor, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3a4f3808-19fc-4a6e-85b7-ea0df18f079b?accessToken=zwAAAYQLvBfOkc86TzgIGfxKbtOFt-oN8Y8Hmw.MEUCIExUC9mldQPfCLoybJyQPRTu4hZJxz49mbmaZkGWYkYTAiEAwU_foyQ4dMxZ0ue9cegtUWVng2PYV3LcGEf8wl-SQ_o&amp;sharetype=gift&amp;token=65fc0ca9-955d-4ffa-bfd9-8c1bad724ade">the Financial Times reports</a>. Campbell is in the midst of a nearly two-year battle with the bank over accusations against JPMorgan for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-financial-advisor-complaint-private-bank-clients-merrill-2021-12">attempting to poach her high-profile clients</a>.4. Black founders received just 0.12% of the total funding in Q3, TechCrunch reports. Of the $150.9 billion that was invested in startups last quarter, according to Crunchbase, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/21/black-startup-founders-raised-just-187-million-in-the-third-quarter/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=New:%2010%20Things%20on%20Wall%20Street">only $187 million went to Black entrepreneurs</a>. 5. Nobody seems to want to launch new ESG funds, Bloomberg reports. The number of funds that have either launched or reclassified as ESG has dropped sharply this year. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-24/asset-managers-curb-esg-repurposing-as-regulators-probe-industry?cmpid=BBD102422_MONEYSTUFF&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_term=221024&amp;utm_campaign=moneystuff&amp;sref=5xrDvJna">Find out why</a>.6. Andreessen Horowitz just invested in a startup that helps founders invest in Andreessen Horowitz. If your brain isn't completely in shambles, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-24/andreessen-bets-on-the-coterie-eyeing-tech-s-young-and-wealthy?sref=5xrDvJna">read this story from Bloomberg on the $40 million investment</a>. 7. Don't be surprised if you run into some Russians on your next all-inclusive vacation. Grenada is proving to be an effective loophole for wealthy Russians looking to get US visas. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-russians-offered-caribbean-shortcut-us-visas-grenada-passport-2022-10">Here's how it works</a>. 8. Everybody wants Mark Zuckerberg to cool it on the metaverse. Altimeter Capital's Brad Gerstner, whose fund owns a stake in Meta, wrote an open letter to the CEO about how the company has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-losses-facebook-brad-gerstner-open-letter-2022-10">"too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency.</a>"9. Think TikTok is just a silly app that wastes your time and collects all your data? You're not wrong, but you can also get rich off it. A full-time engineer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-content-creator-spends-earns-tiktok-instagram-youtube-2022-10">explains how he built a side hustle on the app</a>. 10. The most incredible performance in sports right now is Manchester City's Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker is on pace to smash seemingly every scoring record this season. We mapped out how his run this season stacks up <a href="https://www.insider.com/erling-haaland-on-course-to-destroy-premier-league-goalscoring-records-2022-10">against some of the other all-time greats</a>.Keep updated with the latest business news throughout your day by checking out <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">The Refresh from Insider</a>, a dynamic audio news brief. <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">Listen here.</a>Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffrey_cane">@jeffrey_cane</a>) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/hallam_bullock">@hallam_bullock</a>) in London.

Meet the wealthy ex-Goldman Sachs junior banker and hedge-fund manager taking over as the UK's new prime minister

rishi sunak and akshata murthy combined fortune

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How Obama mentored the new UK prime minister to help him tell his story

Mikhaila Friel

TikToker says she spotted the prime minister of the UK at her 7 a.m. Taylor Swift-themed SoulCycle class in Santa Monica

Alia Shoaib

Meet the wealthy ex-Goldman Sachs junior banker and hedge-fund manager taking over as the UK's new prime minister

Dan DeFrancesco