Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to advise Microsoft and Anthropic 

Rishi Sunak, who served as the UK’s prime minister from 2022 to 2024, has taken on senior advisory roles at Microsoft and Anthropic, The Guardian reviews.  

Letters from the Parliament’s workplace of the Advisory Committee on Enterprise Appointments (Acoba) disclosing Sunak’s appointments revealed issues that the ex-Conservative PM’s privileged data might “grant Microsoft an unfair benefit.”  

Sunak has some historical past with Microsoft, which has a number of lively contracts with British authorities departments. In 2023, he unveiled a £2.5 billion take care of Microsoft to spend money on new information facilities and coaching within the U.Okay.

Acoba additionally famous that “there’s a cheap concern that your appointment might be seen to supply unfair entry and affect inside the U.Okay. authorities…given the continuing debate about easy methods to finest regulate AI, and at a time of intense debate and lobbying world wide on what the strategy ought to be.” 

Sunak mentioned he would steer clear on advising on U.Okay. coverage issues, follow high-level views on macro-economic and geopolitical tendencies, and keep away from lobbying. He mentioned he would divert his wage to the Richmond Mission, a charity he based along with his spouse earlier this yr. 

The previous PM additionally serves as a senior advisor to funding financial institution Goldman Sachs and speech author for companies like Bain Capital and Makena Capital. 

Sunak isn’t the primary British politician to tackle roles serving to Silicon Valley tech giants navigate governmental affairs. Sunak’s senior political adviser, Liam Sales space-Smith, can be on Anthropic’s payroll. And former Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg served as Meta’s president of world affairs till January 2025.   

In the USA, the revolving door between Silicon Valley and the U.S. authorities is ever-active. At Meta, Clegg was changed by Joel Kaplan, George W. Bush’s former deputy chief of employees, and Dustin Carmack, a former adviser to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, joined the agency’s coverage workforce in 2024. Microsoft’s present president of world affairs is Lisa Monaco, former deputy lawyer common below Joe Biden.