It wasn’t so long ago that political commentators and Tory MPs alike were confidently predicting that Rishi Sunak would leave No. 10 and head straight for California to start a new life. In his final appearance at the despatch box for Prime Minister’s Questions, Sunak made light of the rumours as he teased MPs that he was ‘happy to confirm reports that I will now be spending more time in the greatest place on Earth’… before going on to clarify that he’d be in his constituency in Yorkshire.
Today there are more details of how Sunak really plans to spend his time on the backbenches. In a statement from ‘The office of Akshata Murty and Rishi Sunak’, it has been announced that the former prime minister will shortly take up roles at his Alma Maters Oxford university and Stanford as part of their World Leaders Circle. Announcing the news, Sunak said:
I’m delighted to be joining the Blavatnik school of Government at Oxford and the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Both Blavatnik and Hoover do superb work on how we can rise to the economic and security challenges we face and seize the technological opportunities of our time.
At least Sunak will get some Californian sun for now on his trips to Stanford. While Sunak plans to stay put in parliament, Tory MPs expect some of their colleagues to quit before the next election. ‘A lot of the former ministers are desperate to go,’ explains one old hand. Who will be the first?
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