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Hearts & MInds: RISHI, GOLDMAN, AND THE QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE AND PROXIMITY TO POWER
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Hearts & MInds: RISHI, GOLDMAN, AND THE QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE AND PROXIMITY TO POWER

09 July 2025

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Rishi Sunak is the latest former political officeholder to enter the corporate world, joining Goldman Sachs as a senior adviser. It’s a well-trodden path, but the news serves to highlight again the blurring of lines between public service and private gain. Granted, the ex-Prime Minister was at Goldman before entering politics, and his bank earnings will be paid to the Richmond Project, a charity he launched with his wife to improve numeracy skills. He is also required by Acoba, the government appointments watchdog, to restrict his activities. For 12 months, he cannot lobby on behalf of the bank using his government contacts or provide advice on government contracts. 


Acoba said there was a risk his role would ‘overlap’ with the responsibilities he held in government and ‘could be seen to offer unfair access and influence within the UK government’. He should only advise ‘on strategy, macroeconomic and geopolitical matters that do not conflict with your time as Prime Minister.’ 


He joins the long list of ‘formers’ to make the switch. The fact that it is stressed that Sunak’s pay will go to charity and that Acoba imposed its limitation is unlikely to make much difference. The critics’ view will be that what he does with his money is up to him, he and his wife are super-wealthy anyway, and the bank will profit from employing the ex-PM, or else they would not recruit him. Besides, the bar is only for 12 months. His appointment still feeds into every widely held suspicion about privilege and proximity to power. 


Making such a hiring requires hard thinking. Whatever the upside, it comes with an inevitable downside. The shareholders, the key stakeholders, must be happy. For this is one of those situations where it does not matter what you say, what conditions are attached, you will never be believed. If this person were not an ‘ex’, would we be recruiting them? Woe betides there is any evidence of them using their status to gain advantage (and the media and social media will forever be sniping and looking).  


The question is really this: are they worth it? In many cases, the answer must be ‘no’. But one rider, regarding Sunak: he is usually so scrupulously cautious, or at least he has been to date, that he may not allow himself or the bank to become tainted. He may prove to be an exception.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.  

Summary

Rishi Sunak joins Goldman Sachs as a senior adviser, with his pay going to charity and restrictions on lobbying. The move revives debate over ex-politicians entering finance, raising questions about privilege, influence, and the blurred lines between public and private interests.

Author

Chris Blackhurst

Chris Blackhurst

Former Editor and Strategic Communications Adviser

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