Overview

• On Oct. 9, Acoba published letters confirming Rishi Sunak’s appointments and prohibiting advice on UK policy or use of privileged government information.
• Sunak is barred for two years from lobbying or contacting UK officials on behalf of either company, with an additional prohibition on advising Microsoft on government contracts until later next year.
• The roles focus on high-level strategic perspectives on macroeconomic and geopolitical trends rather than UK-specific government matters.
• Sunak will donate all compensation from both posts to The Richmond Project, the numeracy charity he founded with Akshata Murty.
• Acoba flagged risks of perceived unfair access given Sunak’s prior meetings with tech leaders and Microsoft’s UK government business, while Anthropic says the job is internally focused and compliant.