UK gets first Hindu PM Rishi Sunak: Timeline of events leading to his second shot at Britain's top post

London: Rishi Sunak on Monday was all set to make history on Diwali as Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party, following Penny Mordaunt’s withdrawal from the race.

Chronology of main events illustrating Rishi Sunak’s second shot at UK PM’s post

2015: Rishi Sunak was elected the Conservative MP for Richmond, Yorkshire

2016: Sunak is a lifelong Brexiter, and accordingly campaigned for leave, a gamble at the time but one that paid off as it put him in good political stead within the Tory party in the years to come

2018: Under Theresa May, Sunak is given his first ministerial job as number three at the newly renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

July 2019: Sunak endorses Boris Johnson for British Prime Minister and is rewarded by the new leader with a job as Treasury minister under then Chancellor Sajid Javid

February 2020: After Javid resigns over a power battle between No. 10 and No.11 Downing Street, Boris Johnson promotes Sunak to the role of Chancellor making him the first minister of Indian origin to hold one of the highest offices in the British government

April 2020: After the UK goes into full lockdown in March 2020 as the COVID pandemic takes hold, Sunak wins praise for a series of mini budgets to introduce measures such as the furlough scheme, which goes on to save many jobs and businesses

2021: Rishi Sunak is pitted as a clear favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory leader as Johnson’s partygate troubles begin swirling, though the British Indian Chancellor holds firm that his focus is only on the Cabinet job at hand

February 2022: UK Chancellor Sunak admits being present at a party for his boss Johnson’s birthday in the Cabinet room of Downing Street, in breach of lockdown rules in place back in June 2020

April 2022: In a gruelling week, his wife Akshata Murty’s legal non-domicile tax status, meaning she doesn’t pay UK taxes on her Infosys income, and that Sunak’s own US green card while in office hit media headlines

July 2022: Rishi Sunak resigns as Chancellor, just moments after his former boss in the Treasury Sajid Javid as Health Secretary

July 8: Rishi Sunak launches bid to succeed Boris Johnson as UK PM

July 20: Rishi Sunak races ahead with 137 votes as the frontrunner with his party colleague, to face off with Liz Truss in the final leg of the British PM contest

August 5: Rishi Sunak wins over voters in a TV debate

August 30: Rishi Sunak camp accuses Liz Truss of avoiding scrutiny

September 1: Rishi Sunak closes the campaign on a personal note with parents, wife Akshata

September 2: Voting closes in the UK Prime Minister race between Rishi Sunak, and Liz Truss

September 5: Truss defeats Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership race to become the new British PM

October 14: UK PM Liz Truss sacks Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor amid economic turmoil

October 20: Truss resigns as British PM after six weeks amid an open revolt

October 24: Sunak wins Tory contest to make history as UK’s first Indian-origin PM.

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