More Rosebud - Akshata Murthy
6/23/20261 hr 15 min
Akshata Murthy, entrepreneur, philanthropist and wife of the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is our guest today. And it's particularly interesting to listen to this episode in light of the resignation of Keir Starmer yesterday (Monday 22 June 2026): what is it really like to be married to a prime minister? What are Akshata's memories of the day, in the pouring rain, that Rishi Sunak announced the fateful 2024 election? Did she feel she sacrificed her own life and career to make way for Rishi's ambitions? Plus, this episode opens with some topical chat from Gyles and Harriet - move over, Rest is Politics!
But this episode is really about Akshata's own life and times - her unusual childhood, in which she was raised until the age of five by her maternal grandparents in a small, dusty town, eating mangoes straight from the tree, while her parents worked hard to build their company. She talks of the pain and confusion of missing her parents, and of the conflicting emotions that brings up. Akshata talks about her parents' vision and commitment to giving back to India - to "compassionate capitalism" and philanthropy. She talks about moving to Bangalore, her school life and her first crush. She talks about college in California and meeting Rishi.
This is an interesting, unexpected conversation. With many thanks to Akshata Murthy. Enjoy this.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsGyles Brandreth· Host0:02
[piano music] This is More Rosebud. I'm Gyles Brandreth. It's the 23rd of June, 2026. More Rosebud with, of course, more content because I've got with me my friend and producer, Harriet Jane. How are you today, Harriet?
Harriet Jaine· Host0:35
Yes, I'm very well, Gyles.
Gyles Brandreth· Host0:37
I'm glad you are. I say More Rosebud, but no more Prime Minister.
Harriet Jaine· Host0:42
I know, yes.
Gyles Brandreth· Host0:44
Because yesterday, and I'm saying this because we know that 20% of our audience are international.
Harriet Jaine· Host0:49
Mm.
Gyles Brandreth· Host0:50
Only about 80% of our audience are in the UK- Mm, that's true ... where we make the podcast, so they may not have been following what's been happening, uh, in the UK- Mm ... if you're around the world. In a nutshell, what happened about 24 hours ago was that the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, resigned as leader of the Labour Party.
Harriet Jaine· Host1:10
Mm-hmm.
Gyles Brandreth· Host1:11
He is still Prime Minister and will remain Prime Minister until a new Labour Party leader is chosen. Just to explain to people internationally how this works, we have a parliamentary democracy, and essentially the largest party is invited to form the government of the day, and the leader of