Rishi Sunak expects multi-billion dollar payday after losing $177,000 PM gig
It is legal. Rishi Sunak is no longer the Prime Minister of the UK. His long and winding road to the exit door at No 10 has felt inevitable since he took over from the disastrous, short-lived Liz Truss government in the autumn of 2022.
But the 44-year-old Sunak—reportedly spotted riding off into the California sunset in his Peloton before the results came in—may be licking his lips at the future ahead of him rather than looking ahead to what would have been five years in office. .
That’s because Sunak, a man technically richer than the King of England and formerly a high-flying London banker, can prepare more lucrative benefits as he retires from service life.
Millions of Sunak
As prime minister, Sunak was entitled to a salary of £80,000, on top of his £91,346 salary as MP for his constituency of Richmond and Northallerton. Tax records show that last year, he took home £139,000 ($177,000) from those roles.
His UK salary package is a small amount compared to what he used to get used to before entering politics and even other types of money he was earning while he was holding this job. Sunak made around £1.8 million in gross profit 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 field.
According to an analysis by efinancialcareers, Sunak probably earned just under £100,000 in his first three years out of university.
While working at hedge fund TCI between 2006 and 2009 in his mid-20s, Sunak became a multi-millionaire after he and his partner shared a £100 million pot after a lucrative bet on the global financial crisis.
The hedge fund took an activist position in Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, forcing its sale to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which resulted in a profit of 555.9 million. However, that takeover put the Bank of Scotland in debt, leading to a £45.5 billion government bailout.
Although Sunak’s biggest fortune will likely come after he finally steps down as an MP, there are new sources of income that he could eventually look forward to.
Evidence suggests that if Sunak returns to the world of finance after leaving politics, he will be in high demand.
Sunak’s former chancellor George Osbourne made new millions from city advisory roles with groups including Blackrock and Robey Warshaw, in addition to his time management. London Evening Standard newspaper.
Or, he could take a cautionary lesson from David Cameron. The man who served as PM between 2010 and 2016 found himself in hot water for his role in the collapsed financial group Greensill Capital.
Cameron reportedly received $10 million from Greensill to lobby the government on behalf of the company, but his spokesman denied this.
Speaking engagements
A much lighter grade for Sunak’s bank account after leaving office may see him use his years of training as a public speaker.
Tony Blair, the ninth longest-serving Prime Minister of all time, set the mark after retirement, reportedly commanding £1 million in 2012 for his engagement. His Tory successors were determined to follow that trend.
In the year between leaving the post of prime minister and his resignation as an MP, the esteemed Boris Johnson raked in millions of dollars in extracurricular activities as he settled into post-leadership life.
Documents from May 2023 show that Johnson was paid an estimated £3.5 million for speaking engagements after he left the post of PM. He also received a £510,000 advance for the book deal. Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor, has also enjoyed a speaking circuit since stepping down as PM in 2019.
Family wealth
What is unique about Sunak among his contemporaries, however, is that the PM does not need to serve again.
Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, are worth £651 million ($830 million), according to a recent report. Sunday Times Rich Listmaking him richer than King Charles.
Most of that wealth comes from Murty’s holdings in Indian IT company Infosys, which his billionaire father co-founded.
Murty’s wealth was in turmoil during Sunak’s premiership because of his “non-domiciled” status, meaning he was exempt from paying income tax on foreign-owned Infosys shares. Murty vowed to pay UK tax on this after a media firestorm.
Sunak will remain an MP until he decides otherwise, like Boris Johnson or David Cameron before him.
But when he leaves, the man who led the Tories to their worst defeat in almost two centuries will quickly enter a multi-million dollar business line shared by many of his former supporters.
Source link
