Rishi Sunak’s wife made a surprise appearance at the Tory conference ahead of his keynote speech.
Akshata Murthy looked glamorous in a pink suit as she took to the stage in the main hall at the gathering in Manchester.
She told the audience: “Yes, you are absolutely right, I am not on the agenda for today.
“A bit of a surprise addition shall we say and a surprise for my husband too, who has no idea what I am going to say.”
In her touching address, she described her husband as her “best friend”.
After telling the audience that her speech was also a surprise to their daughters Anoushka and Krishna, she added: “The reason why I am here is really quite simple, and it is because Rishi and I are each other’s best friends.
“We are one team and I could not imagine being anywhere else but here today with all of you to show my support to him and to the party.”
Ms Murty closed her speech by telling the conference she often reminds her husband of the importance of fighting for his values and Conservative values “when the going gets tough”.
She concluded: “Rishi, you know this, you know that doing the right thing for the long term, even when it is hard, is the right thing to do.”
As he opened his speech on the main stage, the Prime Minister told his wife: “Thank you Akshata for that introduction, and thank you for always being there for me.
“My wife. Truly the best long-term decision for a brighter future I ever made.”
