Allies of former prime minister Rishi Sunak have denied he is planning to quit as an MP after he accepted a new role in California.
The ex-Tory leader, who suffered a thumping defeat at last year’s general election, has long been the subject of rumours he will relocate to the Sunshine State.
He met his wife there while he was studying as a student and the couple still own a luxury penthouse apartment there, worth an estimated £5 million.
Now, he has announced he will be taking up a visiting fellowship at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in California, as well as joining Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government as a member of its World Leaders Circle.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has returned to the Commons as a backbench MP (PA Wire)
Mr Sunak said he had “huge affection” for both which had “shaped my life and career”.
But allies denied that his new role in California would lead to him quitting as an MP, which would trigger a by-election for his seat.
The positions are Mr Sunak’s first since he returned to the backbenches in July, where he sits as the MP for Richmond and Northallerton, in North Yorkshire.
Mr Sunak said: “Both Blavatnik and Hoover do superb work on how we can rise to the economic and security challenges we face and seize the technological opportunities of our time.
“I have huge affection for both Oxford and Stanford. I was fortunate enough to study at both, they shaped my life and career, and I look forward to contributing to their world-leading research in the months and years ahead.”
Mr Sunak with his family on holiday in California while he was PM (Getty Images)
Intense speculation about what Mr Sunak’s post-Downing Street life would look like began even before he entered No 10 – when it was revealed he once held a US green card.
In fact, he returned it only after he became chancellor, ahead of his first trip to America as a serving UK government minister.
During the resulting row, he was forced to deny that he had kept the card – which allows the holder to live and work permanently in the US – to return there. Despite this, there remains speculation in Whitehall that Mr Sunak will at some point relocate to California.
