Rishi Sunak, who served as the UK’s prime minister from 2022 to 2024, has taken on senior advisory roles with Microsoft and Anthropic, according to reports by The Guardian. The appointments were disclosed in letters from the Parliament’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Acoba highlighted that Sunak’s access to sensitive government information during his tenure could give Microsoft an unfair advantage, particularly given the company’s existing contracts with UK government departments. The committee also noted a “reasonable concern” that the appointment might be perceived as granting undue influence within the UK government, especially amid ongoing global debates over AI regulation and intense lobbying efforts surrounding the technology. Sunak has emphasized that he will not advise on UK policy matters, focusing instead on high-level perspectives related to macroeconomic trends, geopolitics, and long-term strategic outlooks. He has also committed to redirecting his earnings from these roles to the Richmond Project, a charity he co-founded with his wife earlier this year. The former prime minister is also a senior advisor to investment bank Goldman Sachs and provides speechwriting services to firms such as Bain Capital and Makena Capital. Sunak is not alone in this transition from public office to high-profile tech advisory roles. His former senior political adviser, Liam Booth-Smith, is now on Anthropic’s payroll. Additionally, former Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg served as Meta’s president of global affairs until January 2025. The pattern of political figures moving into tech industry leadership is common across the Atlantic as well. At Meta, Clegg was succeeded by Joel Kaplan, a former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, and Dustin Carmack, a former adviser to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, joined the company’s policy team in 2024. Microsoft’s current president of global affairs is Lisa Monaco, who previously served as deputy attorney general under President Joe Biden.