The UK's new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, took office last week after a tumultuous period in British politics.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the former chancellor has a net worth of $747 million. Sunak is the richest person to ever walk down the street.
His net worth is comparable to that of King Charles. According to the Sunday Times, Queen Elizabeth II was worth about $450 million before she died.
Sunak's wealth has made him vulnerable to criticism about being out of touch with working people. It's a background that could make it harder for him to be the PM.
The Conservative party has had a bleakest outlook since coming into power.
After the markets were plunged into turmoil and the pound fell to a record low against the dollar, Labour opened up a huge lead in opinion polls.
His win in last week's leadership battle appeared to calm financial markets but his biggest challenge is ahead as balancing the UK's books may require both tax hikes and spending cuts
Spending cuts will hurt both economically and politically according to Paul Hollingsworth.
Sunak's time as chancellor was cut short by the swine flu. February 2020 was when he took the position. Sunak spent tens of billions of pounds on various schemes, including a controversial discount scheme for restaurant meals.
Sunak's economic ethos makes it hard to square that spending with it.
George Dibb said Sunak was forensic about the details of tax policy. He said that the PM's frugal approach to finances was an example of Sunak's Mais lecture.
Sunak was prone to delays that cost the economy more money and left people worse off, according to Dibb.
Some people think Sunak did it in a way that hurt the worst-off.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation predicted that half a million people would go into poverty because of the end of the £20-per-week social security boost.
The Spring Statement, Sunak's last budget as chancellor, gave the poorer households an extra £120 per year, while the richest received a £480 boost, according to the Intellectual Property Rights Trust.
Questions of fairness will return to Sunak's administration as British people struggle with soaring energy prices and inflation that has peaked at a 40-year high.
Jeevun Sandher, head of economics at the New Economics Foundation, told Insider that he doesn't understand that people are working full-time and still can't make ends meet.
The austerity championed by a previous Conservative government contributed to a rise in child poverty according to Sandher.
There isn't very much fat left to trim from the public finances as voters have less appetite for spending cuts as waiting times to see a doctor rise and crime increases. Some people are doing badly out of the crisis.
Increasing taxes on wealth and energy companies would be the best way to balance the books, according to Dibb. He said that they weren't likely to be options Sunak would choose.
The low political appetite for public spending cuts that hurt the poor will be seen through the lens of who is administering them: the prime minister.
A former finance minister has a mansion in Yorkshire and a home in London that is worth millions.
Sunak is likely to feel the pinch in the shape of a $13,000 yearly bill to heat his swimming pool at a time when more and more families are using food banks.
The PM has faced scrutiny for his wife's non-domiciled status and is likely to be an easy target for opposition politicians.
Gary Stevenson told the Guardian that it's hard for people to know how rich their MPs are. He is the richest person to ever serve in Parliament, and he oversaw the biggest increase in inequality ever.
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