Big hitters who left the British government

Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid were two of the biggest hitters in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government until they resigned on Tuesday in protest at his scandal-ridden leadership.

Sunak, 42, was on a meteoric rise to power that could have made him Britain’s first Hindu Prime Minister.

Javid, 10 years Sunak’s senior and also with a previous career in high finance, was his immediate predecessor and a brilliant political performer.

But they resigned within minutes, just as Johnson apologized for his handling of a sordid scandal that engulfed one of his senior colleagues.

The resignations – following a series of crises that led to a vote of confidence in Johnson’s leadership – did not dampen speculation that both men still have their eye on the top job.

Sunak was little known to the British public when Johnson made him Chancellor of the Exchequer in February 2020, after just five years in Conservative politics after a lucrative career in hedge funds.

A month later, Johnson ordered the first nationwide lockdown, forcing Sunak to put together a massive financial bailout to save millions of jobs.

But since restrictions were lifted, it has come under increasing pressure as a cost-of-living crisis worsens, pushing inflation to a 40-year high and many Brits struggling to make ends meet.

Amid rising prices, Sunak has fallen behind over his wife’s financial affairs and has been criticized by fellow Tories for his efforts to raise millions of dollars in taxes.

Revelations that his wife Akshata Murty – whose billionaire father founded Indian tech giant Infosys – was not paying British taxes sparked a storm of protests.

Teetotaler Sunak was also fined by police for briefly attending an impromptu birthday party for Johnson during the Covid restrictions in 2020.

Oxford-educated Sunak – the first person born in the 1980s to hold one of the so-called four great offices of state – appeared appropriately chastised.

He has made a contrasting figure to Johnson, both in public and in private.

While Johnson’s style of governing has been described as chaotic and seemingly making politics on the fly, Sunak is a detail-oriented sucker.

In contrast to Johnson’s tousled hair and disheveled looks, Sunak has created a carefully curated image on social media, complete with designer clothes, top-of-the-line gadgets and a photogenic dog.

Sunak, whose grandparents were from Punjab, India, has two daughters with Murty. They met while studying in California.

Married three times, Johnson has at least seven children and a list of previous lovers.

Javid, the Muslim son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver who grew up anti-racism in a troubled neighborhood of Bristol, western England, has already left Johnson’s cabinet.

His seven-month tenure as chancellor was rocked by rumors of deep divisions with Johnson’s former chief political adviser, Dominic Cummings.

He resigned after Brexit architect Cummings tried to force him to sack all his top advisers and replace them with those from Downing Street.

Javid’s refusal and resignation cut short an equally fast-paced political career after serving as Home Secretary under former Prime Minister Theresa May.

He was practically the second in office as finance minister, just as Britain faced an emergency exit from the European Union.

He replaced Philip Hammond as Chancellor as the prospect of a messy divorce after 46 years unsettled markets and sent the pound to a multi-year low.

The father of four, a free market advocate who admires Margaret Thatcher, had first-hand experience of managing financial turmoil.

Javid made big bets and made huge profits as a derivatives trader for Deutsche Bank during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. His tax affairs at the time were recently subjected to a close scrutiny.

Javid’s pro-market instinct led him to vote to remain in the European Union in 2016 because of the economic benefits for trade.

But he later rallied for the Brexit cause and ended his own Tory leadership challenge to back Johnson.

He was appointed to the Board of Health in June 2021 when his predecessor Matt Hancock quit after he was caught having an affair with a counselor, in violation of social distancing guidelines.