Rishi Sunak will be the youngest prime minister in modern political history when he takes office this week. Sunak is 42, a year younger than Tony Blair was in 1997, who was the same age as David Cameron when he entered Downing Street in 2010. Cameron has held the modern record until now, as he was a few months younger than Blair.
William Pitt the Younger befits his name as he is the youngest man to ever hold the position when he became prime minister in 1783 aged 24. A series of politicians took the highest office of state in their 30s during the 18th century. However, Sunak’s rise to the top job in British politics is notable for a number of other reasons. He is the prime minister who has had the fastest rise in the modern era from being elected as an MP to becoming prime minister, after just seven years. Cameron came in at just nine years, but again, Pitt the Younger holds the overall record with just two years. Sunak is the UK’s first prime minister of south Asian descent, with both of his parents of Punjabi Indian background, from Kenya and Tanzania. It has been incorrectly said that he is the country’s first minority ethnic prime minister, but that title belongs to Tory Benjamin Disraeli, who was of Jewish descent but baptised into the Church of England. When he meets King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, Sunak will become the first Hindu prime minister. He is a practising Hindu, but rarely talks about his religion. The announcement at the 1922 Committee on Tuesday meant he was named prime minister on Diwali, the festival of lights, which Sunak marked on the doorstep of 11 Downing Street when he was chancellor. Sunak will be the first prime minister who represents a Yorkshire constituency. He was elected to Richmond, in North Yorkshire in 2015, a seat held previously by former Conservative party leader William Hague. The closest the historic white rose part of England came before was Harold Wilson, who was born in Huddersfield. However, he went on to cross the historic divide to Lancashire when he held two seats in the red rose county. Born five months into the 1980s, Sunak could be counted as the first millennial to enter Downing Street. The social-media savvy ex-chancellor is already known for his love of gadgets, owning a £180 smart mug, and using a trendy Peleton exercise bike.