Sunak enjoys fastest journey from MP to PM in modern era
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Rishi Sunak has enjoyed the fastest journey in modern political history from starting as an MP to becoming prime minister.
He first entered the House of Commons at the 2015 general election, when he won the seat of Richmond in North Yorkshire with 51% of the vote.
He held the seat at the 2017 and 2019 elections, winning an increased share of 64% of the vote on both occasions.
It has taken Mr Sunak only seven years to go from being a new MP to becoming the new Prime Minister.
No other politician in modern times has made the same journey in a shorter period.
The previous record holder was David Cameron, who took nine years, while both Boris Johnson and John Major needed 11 and Liz Truss 12.
Tony Blair took 14 years from becoming an MP in 1983 to entering Downing Street in 1997.
Other prime ministers have typically needed around two decades or more to climb to the top.
Theresa May and Harold Wilson both took 19 years, while Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher took 20.
Gordon Brown had to wait much longer than many of his contemporaries, with a total of 24 years between his debut as an MP in 1983 and the start of his premiership in 2007.
But even this was not quite as long a wait as that experienced by Jim Callaghan, who took 31 years from starting as an MP in 1945 to becoming Labour prime minister in 1976.
