Rishi Sunak, who pushed for drastic cuts to the legally enshrined 0.7% of gross national income aid budget, is to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. He’s the second U.K. government leader in as many months to take office without a vote being put to the general public, and one of the richest ever to hold the office — richer even than King Charles III.
The former chancellor of the exchequer will be the U.K.’s third prime minister in as many months. During his two years as chancellor, Sunak gained a reputation for his ruthlessness with the aid budget during the process of reducing it to 0.5% of GNI, a policy which subtracted around £4.6 billion from the budget and caused extensive damage to development programs.
“During the discussions on the cuts he could not care less and despite [Former Foreign Secretary Dominic] Raab trying to make it a bit more rational (like a gradual reduction) he went for max political impact … Treasury in power is bad news for aid budget,” said a former official at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.