Rishi Sunak was on the verge of becoming Britain's first person of color when he had his public falling out with Boris Johnson.
If the Hindu descendent of immigrants from Britain's former empire in India and East Africa were to rule the fifth-largest economy in the world, it would be a historic moment.
But before Sunak can win over the party's supporters and advance to the run-off after a series of votes by conservative MPs, ballots are being distributed on Monday, and he is well behind Liz Truss.
According to opinion polls, she has so far outflanked him with programmes aimed at the Tory right, which also distrusts Sunak because of his involvement in the cabinet coup that forced Johnson to resign after months of scandal.
The former chancellor of the exchequer, who amassed enormous wealth through his financial career before entering politics, has also been made fun of for soaring inflation.
On the campaign trail this month, he was seen visiting a construction site in pricey Prada loafers. He was also accused of "mansplaining" to Truss during a heated TV discussion when he attacked her tax-cutting proposals.
Instead, Sunak contends that for Britain to control inflation and restart economy, a Thatcherite dosage of "Sound money" is required.
A video of a 21-year-old Sunak discussing his group of pals after attending the University of Oxford and Winchester College, one of the most prestigious private institutions in Britain, also surfaced.
I have pals who are upper class, working class, and aristocracy.
Sunak 42, a detail-oriented policy expert who became chancellor in February 2020, was an early supporter of Brexit. The covid pandemic's outbreak was the rising Tory star's baptism by fire.
He was compelled to quickly put together a significant economic stimulus package, which he now claims needs to be repaid.
Sunak's wife Akshata Murty is the person who has made him more well-known in India. She is the daughter of Infosys co-founder and billionaire businessman Narayana Murthy, an Indian tycoon.
The Sunaks, who have two young girls, met while attending college in California.
The former minister acquired the nickname Dishy Rishi thanks to his Instagram-friendly profile.
Sunak maintained a US Green Card up until last year, which detractors claimed indicated a lack of long-term devotion to Britain.
And he has had to deal with unpleasant concerns over Murty's failure to pay UK taxes on her Infosys returns up until recently, which, according to opinion surveys, was widely despised by voters.
The scandals of Johnson's turbulent premiership have already left their mark on Sunak.
He urged fellow Hindus to adhere to England's Covid ban as he lit oil lights on the front step of the chancellor's official residence at 11 Downing Street to celebrate the Hindu holiday of Diwali in November 2020.
Johnson was less conscientious about following the regulations, earning police fine for one lockdown violation as part of the "Partygate" scandal probe.
Sunak, though, also received police fine after attending Johnson's birthday party when he came early for a Downing Street meeting.
Sunak, a teetotaller who only admits to enjoying Coca-Cola and sugary confectioneries, had his reputation tarnished by the Partygate affair in addition to the controversies surrounding his wealth.
Northern England's Yorkshire is home to Richmond, a safe Conservative seat that Sunak took over in 2015 from the "extraordinary" former party leader and foreign secretary William Hague.
As an MP, Sunak takes the Bhagavad Gita as the foundation for his oath of allegiance. In January 2018, Theresa May appointed him to his first position in the government as a junior minister for local government parks and troubled families.
The grandparents of Sunak came from Punjab in northern India and immigrated to Britain in the 1960s via eastern Africa.
In his first speech to MPs in 2015, Sunak stated that they had "very little" when they came.
His mother oversaw a neighborhood pharmacy, while his father practiced family medicine in Southampton on the coast of southern England.
Before enrolling at Stanford University in California and later Oxford University, Sunak worked as a waiter in a neighborhood Indian restaurant.
Sunak maintains that the experiences of his own family and his extremely wealthy wife are both "very Conservative" tales of adversity and aspiration. He will soon find out if the other party members concur.
