Former British PM Sunak joins Microsoft, Anthropic in advisory roles

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(Reuters) -Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday he has joined U.S. tech giant Microsoft and AI startup Anthropic as a senior adviser.

Sunak, who stepped down as the leader of the opposition Conservative Party following a defeat in the general election last July, continues to serve as a member of the British Parliament.

In a LinkedIn post, Sunak said that the proceeds from the roles will be donated in full to The Richmond Project, a charity he started with his wife Akshata Murty.

Amazon and Google-backed Anthropic said that the internally focused, part-time advisory role fully complied with the conditions of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, or ACOBA, which oversees rules on new jobs for former ministers and senior civil servants.

Sunak will advise Anthropic on strategy, macroeconomic and geopolitical trends. The role focuses on global strategic matters, not UK-specific policy, and Sunak is prohibited from initiating contact with UK government officials on behalf of Anthropic. 

At Microsoft, Sunak will provide strategic perspectives on macroeconomic and geopolitical trends. He will be speaking at the annual Microsoft Summit, according to an advice letter by ACOBA’s interim chair, Isabel Doverty, posted to its website on Thursday. Sunak will not be advising on any UK policy matters.

The former prime minister cannot lobby for the firm for two years from his last day in ministerial office, nor draw on any privileged information from his time in government, according to the letter.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The development follows Sunak’s July return to Goldman Sachs in an advisory role. He had previously worked at the Wall Street bank as an analyst in the early 2000s, before joining a series of hedge funds.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)