Who Shall be The Next British Prime Minister?

 Well I really dont know but there are front-runners. The first front-runner, perhaps quite way in front is 42 year old (born 1980) Rishi Sunak, the recently resigned Finance Minister (aka Chancellor of the Exchequer). Born in the UK, Rishi Sunak is a Punjabi Hindu (mother tongue Punjabi). His parents were Indian migrants from East Africa. His father was born in Kenya. His mother was an Indian migrant born in Tanzania.

 

This man is rich. He is worth over 730 million Pounds (almost RM4.0 Billion) and is the richest British Member of Parliament ever!  Educated at Stanford University and having made his millions as a Goldman Sachs banker and a hedge fund manager Rishi Sunak is certainly the candidate of the City of London bankers.

Just like the current French President Emmanuel Macron who worked for the Rothschilds Bank and was the favourite candidate of the European bankers.

 

However Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty is a tad richer than him. She is the daughter and heir of the Indian IT multi-billionaire Narayana Murthy (sounds so Tamil) the founder of Infosys. She is worth over US$1.0 Billion (RM4.40 Billion). As a couple Rishi Sunak and wife are worth over RM8.4 Billion !!

She was also educated at Stanford University where she met and married Rishi Sunak.

Her multi billionaire father Narayana Murthy was not only the founder of Infosys but was also :

• an independent director of HSBC, DBS Bank, Unilever, ICICI and NDTV.
• member of advisory boards of British Telecommunications, Cornell University, Ford Foundation, UN Foundation, Indo-British Partnership, Asian Institute of Management
• trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the Rhodes Trust.
• In 2005, he co-chaired the World Economic Forum in Davos.
  

 

The second front-runner to be Prime Minister of the UK is this woman 49 year old Penny Mordaunt (born 1973) the British MP for Portsmouth - a Navy town.

 

You can quickly glance her bio here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Mordaunt

Her entire working life has been public service all the way, holding various Cabinet posts including the first female Minister of Defense. She is also the only MP who is a serving reserve officer in the British Royal Navy.

If there is a third candidate it would be Sajid Javid - until recently Minister of Health in Boris Johnson's Cabinet. Sajid 53 years old was born in the UK to Punjabi Muslim parents (immigrant Pakistanis). He also built a career in banking and was once Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer). 

Will the British Conservative Party pick a non-white South Asian as its next prime ministerial candidate?

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.