Akshata Murty gatecrashes 'best friend' Rishi Sunak's speech, shares personal insights
The 43-year-old spoke about Sunak’s feats and how she was drawn to him for his “honesty and integrity” when they first met in their 20s.
Britain’s First Lady, Akshata Murty, made a dramatic appearance at the Conservative Party conference to declare that she and her husband Prime Minister Rishi Sunak remain “best friends” even 14 years after marriage.
“Rishi and I are each other’s best friends; we are one team and I could not imagine being anywhere else than here today to show my support to him and to the party,” Murty told the party delegates packing the venue in Manchester on Wednesday.
She stepped out to introduce her “best friend” for his maiden speech as the prime minister to the Conservative gathering.
In a light-hearted speech, Akshata insisted that Sunak was unaware of her “gate-crashing” and that her daughters Krishna and Anoushka were equally surprised.
The 43-year-old, who is the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy, spoke about Sunak’s achievements and how she was drawn to him for his “honesty and integrity” when they first met in their 20s. Both were then students at Stanford University in the United States.
Mutual love
“Right from the very beginning, I was struck by two things about him... His deep love for his home, the United Kingdom, and his sincere desire to ensure as many people as possible have a chance to have the opportunities he was lucky enough to have had. It completely energised him. Being with Rishi was the easiest decision of my life,” she said.
“Sometimes when the going gets tough, I remind Rishi that he’s fighting for his values. That he’s fighting for this party’s values, knowing that it’s a hard road ahead. That success is a hard one,” she added.
“He has an incredible zest for life. What drew me to him most was his strength of character, his honesty, his integrity, with a firm understanding of right from wrong. It’s what I’m still drawn to, even today, after 14 years of being married,” she said.
“Rishi, you know this, you know that doing the right thing for the long term even when it is hard is the right thing to do. I hope you also know how proud you make our girls and me every single day,” Murty said to sustained applause from the Tory meeting as a visibly moved Sunak stepped out onto the stage.
(With agency inputs)
