It’s official. Rishi Sunak is no longer prime minister of the United Kingdom. His long, winding path to the exit door has been inevitable since he took over from Liz Truss’s short-lived, economically disastrous government in the autumn of 2022.
But Sunak, 44, who has reportedly been found Riding into the California Sunset Biden, who was riding his motorcycle before the results came in, was more likely to be licking his lips anticipating the future than contemplating what another five years in office might have been like.
This is because Sunak, the man who Richer technically A prince who has a higher status than the King of England and has a past as a high-ranking London banker could be set for more lucrative privileges when he steps away from a life of service.
Sunak millions
As prime minister, Sunak was entitled to a salary of £80,000, in addition to his £91,346 salary as an MP for his Richmond and Northallerton constituency. Tax records show Last year, he earned £139,000 ($177,000) from those roles.
His salary for leading the UK is small compared to what he used to earn before entering politics and even other forms of income while in office. Sunak made nearly £1.8m in capital gains last year and paid a total of £500,000 in tax.
Sunak worked as a successful banker for years, starting at Goldman Sachs before getting an MBA and returning to the lucrative hedge fund business.
According to an analysis conducted by Financial JobsSunak probably earned less than £100,000 in the first three years of graduating from university.
While working at TCI Hedge Fund between 2006 and 2009 in his mid-twenties, become a millionaire After he and his colleagues shared a £100m prize following a profitable bet in the run-up to the global financial crisis.
The hedge fund took an active position in Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, forcing it to sell to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), for a profit of £555.9 million. However, the acquisition left the Scottish bank in debt, leading to a £45.5 billion government bailout.
While Sunak’s biggest fortunes will likely come after he eventually resigns as an MP, there are several new avenues of income he can eventually look forward to.
The evidence suggests that if Sunak returns to finance after leaving politics, he will be in high demand.
Sunak’s fellow former chancellor George Osborne has raised millions of new dollars through City advisory roles with groups including Black stone And Ruby WarshawIn addition to his time in editing Evening Standard London Newspaper.
Or perhaps he could take a cautious lesson from David Cameron, the man who served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016, and who found himself in trouble over his role in the collapsed finance group Greensill Capital.
Cameron It said He received $10 million from Greensill to lobby the government on behalf of the company, but his spokesman denied the figure.
Lectures
The easiest way to make a profit for Sunak’s bank account after he leaves office is likely to be to exploit his years of training as a public speaker.
Tony Blair, the ninth-longest serving prime minister of all time, has reportedly set a milestone after retiring. It is worth one million pounds. In one month in 2012, he was due to take office. His conservative successors were keen to follow suit.
In the year since he stepped down as prime minister and resigned as an MP, the mercurial Boris Johnson has racked up millions of dollars from extracurricular activities as he settles into post-leadership life.
Documents from May 2023 A British study showed that Johnson earned about £3.5 million for giving lectures after he stepped down as prime minister. He also received an advance of £510,000 for a book contract. Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, has also enjoyed speaking at public events since she resigned as prime minister in 2019.
Family wealth
But what sets Sunak apart from his contemporaries is that the prime minister never needs to work again.
Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy have a combined fortune of £651 million ($830 million), according to the latest figures. Sunday Times Rich ListWhich makes him richer than King Charles.
The vast majority of that wealth comes from Murty’s stake in Indian IT company Infosys, which her billionaire father co-founded.
Murthy’s wealth has been a point of contention during Sunak’s premiership because of her “non-domiciled” status, which means she did not pay tax on income from shares in foreign-owned Infosys. Murthy has vowed to pay UK tax on this after a media storm.
Sunak will remain an MP until he decides otherwise, like Boris Johnson or David Cameron before him.
But when he is gone, the man who led the Conservative Party to its worst defeat in nearly two centuries will be quickly absorbed into a multi-million-dollar corporate cushion shared by most of his former allies.