Rishi Sunak, wife Akshata Murthy wealthiest occupants of Downing Street in history
Rishi Sunak and his billionaire wife Akshata Murthy are by far the wealthiest occupants of Downing Street in history, a media report stated. Sunak's extraordinary wealth, with an estimated net fortune of 730 million pounds, includes properties in Britain and the US, a string of business interests and even a fleet of cars including a 'high-spec' Range Rover, a 'top-of-the-range' Lexus and a BMW.
Britain's super-rich Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murthy is said to be wealthier than even King Charles III, due to her 430 million pounds stake in her billionaire tycoon father Narayana Murthy's IT empire.
She has also continued to hold stakes in businesses over the years including a joint venture with Amazon, Cloudtail, in India worth 900 million pounds a year, a project she and Rishi set up together, Catamaran Ventures UK, shares in the firm which runs Jamie Oliver's Pizzeria and burger chain Wendy's in India, and Etonian tailor New & Lingwood, which makes pupils' tailcoats costing 2,500 pounds each, Daily Mail reported.
Rishi's father-in-law, dubbed 'India's Bill Gates' due to his role in pioneering the country's tech boom, was recently ranked the sixth richest person in India and the 654th in the world after his remarkable success in founding Bengaluru-based IT firm Infosys in the 1980s, now a 9.6 billion pounds multinational that employs more than 3,45,000 people.
Sunak on Tuesday took charge as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister.
The 42-year-old investment banker-turned-politician is the youngest British prime minister in 210 years.
He is also Britain's first Hindu Prime Minister.
Sunak and family to move back to smaller flat above 10 Downing Street
Meanwhile, the newly-appointed British Prime Minister and his family will be returning to live in a smaller flat above No 10 Downing Street as they were "very happy there," his spokesperson has said.
No 10 Downing Street has been the residence of British prime ministers since 1735, says the government's website.
It has three functions - the official residence of the Prime Minister, their office and where the prime minister entertains guests from world leaders to royalty.
Sunak, along with his wife Akshata Murty and two daughters, stayed in the flat when he was chancellor to former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Many Prime Ministers of recent years - especially those with children - have lived in the larger flat above No 11, officially designated for the chancellor.
Asked why Sunak has opted for No 10 instead, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Wednesday: "They were very happy there."
The residential areas inside Downing Street are generally kept away from the public eye.
Sunak, during an interview, said the family would "probably just move back into the flat where we used to live, to be honest" if elected.
"We have already decorated it and it's lovely," he said.
Several predecessors including Johnson elected to live in No 11 because the four-bedroom flat there is much larger than the one above No 10, the BBC reported.
Tony Blair and his wife Cherie and their family were the first to make the switch, swapping home with the then-unmarried Gordon Brown.
The Blairs turned the space into a family home, it said.
The prime minister receives an annual public grant of 30,000 pounds to spend on living quarters.
Asked whether Sunak and his family will redecorate, the Prime Minister's press secretary said: "Not that I'm aware of."
In April, before Sunak resigned as chancellor, his family moved out of Downing Street to their west London house to be closer to their children's school.
In his final few months as chancellor, Sunak split his time between the family home and his official residence.
Sunak had insisted that the move from Downing Street in April was because his eldest daughter was in her last term of primary school and was meant to be able to walk to school by herself every day.
It is much larger than it appears from the front, with a warren of rooms and staircases spreading from the hall with the chequered floor immediately behind the front door, the BBC report said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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