Do Tories want safe bet Rishi Sunak or risky Liz Truss? - Bill Carmichael

And then there were two – and we find ourselves in the remarkable position where our next Prime Minister will either be the first person of Asian heritage to hold the post or our third woman leader.

More parochially perhaps, the next Prime Minister will also have strong Yorkshire connections.

Rishi Sunak, although born in Southampton, can claim to be an adopted Yorkshireman through his role as the MP for Richmond.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Liz Truss meanwhile was educated at Roundhay School in Leeds, although she has been less than complimentary about her time there.

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Picture: Getty.Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Picture: Getty.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Picture: Getty.

Neither of them fit comfortably into the smooth ‘‘posh Tory’’ mould exemplified perhaps by the likes of David Cameron and George Osborne.

Sunak, for example, is often castigated as being privileged, and he is certainly wealthy now, but the reality of his background is a little more nuanced. His grandparents were born in the Punjab and the family came to the UK via East Africa, where his parents were born.

His father was a GP and his mother a pharmacist – so the family were comfortably off, rather than in the realms of the super rich.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He attended exclusive and expensive Winchester College and then Oxford, where he gained a first class degree in PPE, and then on to work as an analyst at the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

In 2009 Sunak had the good fortune to marry Akshata Murty, the daughter of one of the world’s richest men.

Her wealth caused the couple no little embarrassment earlier this year when it was revealed by a leak that she held ‘‘non-domicile’’ status for tax purposes. She quickly agreed to pay UK taxes on all her global income.

At the same time it was revealed that Sunak held a “green card” as late as 2021 giving him the right of permanent residence in the US.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

An investigation found he had not broken ministerial rules. The couple have two daughters.

Truss also studied PPE at Oxford – which is the go-to choice for the politically ambitious. Her father was a maths professor and her mother a nurse, and both were left-wingers, and her mother a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

She flirted with the Lib Dems while at university, but then joined the Conservative Party while building a career as a management accountant before working for a think-tank and then entering politics. She is also married with two daughters.

Both candidates are big hitters with experience of some of the toughest jobs in politics. Sunak was Chancellor during the pandemic and can claim credit for the furlough scheme that probably saved many thousands of jobs and businesses.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Truss is currently the Foreign Secretary and has been a key figure in the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and negotiations with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

They are similar in terms of age. Sunak is 42, while Truss is 46. Ideologically, there is also little to choose between them, although both camps are keen to emphasise the small differences that do exist.

They of course both sat around Boris Johnson’s Cabinet table until recently.

Sunak supported Brexit, while Truss was a Remainer, a decision she now regrets and she has become a keen Brexiteer.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad