British Prime Minister Theresa May has instated two Indian origin MPs following the latest cabinet reshuffle of her team of ministers and secretaries on Monday, 9 January. The new recruits who join the ranks of Conservatives include Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy’s son-in-law, Rishi Sunak, and Suella Fernandes, a Goan-origin MP, NDTV reported.
Sunak, an Oxford and Stanford graduate, has been elected as an under secretary of state in Britain's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The 36-year-old had won the English constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire during the 2015 general elections in the country by clinching a little over 50 percent votes.
Fernandes, is a member of the pro-Brexit Conservative organisation, European Research Group and strongly supports Brexit.
Sunak, a Southampton native, is the son of a doctor with the UK’s National Health Service and a mother who once ran a local chemist shop. He attended Winchester College before pursuing a degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. He then headed to Stanford Business School, Quartz reported.
Before entering politics in 2014, Sunak had co-founded an investment firm which specialises in arranging funds for small British businesses. The businessman-turned-politician who has stayed away from the public eye has been a staunch advocate of Brexit, Hindu reported.
Sunak has been critical about EU’s “dismal record” of opening up trade markets for member states. The former Fulbright scholar and one-time Goldman Sachs analyst argued that Britain could tighten its control over its trade policy outside the purview of the customs union, according to a piece he wrote for the Conservative Home website earlier in 2018.
He met his wife Akshata Murthy at the Stanford Business School. The two were married at a ceremony in Bangalore in 200 and have two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.
(With inputs from NDTV, Hindu and Quartz)
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