The former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has returned to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as a senior adviser. In a statement released on July 8, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon announced that Sunak, who was prime minister from October 2022 to July 2024, will collaborate with executives at New York-based Goldman.
Sunak will provide worldwide clients of Goldman Sachs advice on a variety of subjects while offering his distinct viewpoints and insights on the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.
Prior to becoming prime minister, Sunak held the positions of chief secretary to the Treasury and parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.
He also served as chancellor of the exchequer from February 2020 until July 2022. In 2015, he became a Member of Parliament, marking the beginning of his political career.
Sunak was born into a family with immigrant origins. His mother and father were born in Tanzania and Kenya, respectively, after his grandparents left Punjab, in northwest India, for East Africa.
After their families moved to Southampton, southern England, in the 1960s, they met and got married. Sunak’s father joined the National Health Service as a general practitioner. His mother had a small drugstore and was a pharmacist.
Current Political Status of Sunak
Sunak is still an MP for the northern English constituency of Richmond and Northallerton, where he led the Conservative Party to its worst-ever loss in the general election last year.
Regardless of the result of the vote, he pledged throughout the election campaign to serve as an MP for the entire next Parliament. Keir Starmer of Labour, who succeeded him, has until mid-2029 to call the next general election.
Sunak began his career at Goldman as a summer investment banking intern in 2000. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as an analyst. Later on, he co-founded an investment firm that works with businesses all over the world.
Common Move of Former Government Officials
Former government officials frequently migrate into finance, where their worldwide network and policy experience are viewed as key assets. This shift highlights a well-established career trajectory.
Former Chancellors of the Exchequer George Osborne and Sajid Javid also entered the business, with Javid becoming a partner at the investment firm Centricus and Osborne joining BlackRock as an adviser.
These days, banks are valuing such experience even more as they try to help customers navigate a geopolitical environment that is becoming more complicated.
The wealthiest individuals to have occupied 10 Downing Street are Sunak and his spouse, Akshata Murty, who is a trustee of her alma mater, Claremont McKenna College in Southern California.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that Murty’s wealth exceeds $700 million, primarily due to her ownership of Infosys Ltd., the software behemoth her father created.