Rishi Sunak takes advisory roles with Microsoft and AI firm Anthropic

"Rishi Sunak has been appointed as a senior adviser by the US technology companies Microsoft and Anthropic. The former British prime minister's pair of new jobs emerged on Thursday in letters published by Westminster's office of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). They add to his roles as a senior adviser to Goldman Sachs International, the investment bank, and speechmaker to investment firms including Bain Capital and Makena Capital in the US, which have netted him over 150,000 a talk."

"Sunak was prime minister from October 2022 to July 2024, and he joins the $3.9tn technology company Microsoft after applauding it when he was in office as one of the founding fathers of modern technology. He follows Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, in becoming a paid adviser to one of the Silicon Valley giants. Clegg was president of global affairs for Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook."

"The former Conservative leader unveiled a 2.5bn deal with Microsoft's chief executive, Brad Smith, at the Bletchley Park AI summit in November 2023, in which Microsoft announced what Sunak called a historic investment in new datacentres. He also held one-to-one meetings with Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, which committed another 22bn in UK investment last month and with figures from OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, in which Microsoft is a major investor."

Rishi Sunak has taken senior adviser roles with US technology firms Microsoft and Anthropic, announced in letters published by Westminster's Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. The new roles add to existing positions with Goldman Sachs International and paid speaking engagements for Bain Capital and Makena Capital that have yielded over 150,000 a talk. Sunak served as prime minister from October 2022 to July 2024 and previously promoted major technology investment, including a 2.5bn deal unveiled with Microsoft at the Bletchley Park AI summit in November 2023. Microsoft has committed further UK investment and holds large government contracts; Acoba approved the appointments with guardrails to prevent conflicts of interest.

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