Rishi Sunak, who served as British Prime Minister from 2022 to 2024, has taken on senior advisory roles at Microsoft and Anthropic, the Guardian reported.
A letter from the Parliamentary Secretariat’s Business Appointments Advisory Committee (Acova), which revealed Mr Sunak’s appointment, revealed concerns that the former Conservative prime minister’s privileged information could “give Microsoft an unfair advantage”.
Mr Sunak has ties to Microsoft, which has several active contracts with UK government departments. In 2023, it announced a £2.5bn deal with Microsoft to invest in new data centers and training in the UK.
Mr Acoba also said: “At a time when there is ongoing debate about how best to regulate AI, and intense debate and lobbying around the world about what that approach should be, there are legitimate concerns that your appointment could be seen as giving you undue access and influence within the UK government.”
Mr Sunak said he would avoid advising on UK policy issues, maintain a high-level view of macroeconomic and geopolitical developments and avoid lobbying. He said his salary would go toward the Richmond Project, a charity he founded with his wife earlier this year.
The former chancellor is also a senior adviser at investment bank Goldman Sachs and a speechwriter for companies including Bain Capital and Makena Capital.
Mr Sunak is not the first British politician to take on a role helping Silicon Valley tech giants run their affairs. Mr Sunak’s senior political adviser Liam Booth-Smith is also on Anthropic’s payroll. Former Lib Dem deputy prime minister Nick Clegg served as Meta’s president of international affairs until January 2025.
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In the United States, there is always a revolving door between Silicon Valley and the US government. At Meta, Mr. Clegg was replaced by Joel Kaplan, a former chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration, and Dustin Carmack, a former adviser to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, joined the company’s policy team in 2024. Microsoft’s current president of international affairs is Lisa Monaco, a former deputy attorney general under President Joe Biden.
