The third British Prime Minister in less than two months. Of Indian origin, in his first speech after being nominated, he clearly demonstrated that he had not forgotten his origins, and, in a video circulated on the internet, he performed a Hindu ritual at gate 10 downing street, something forbidden, but against any criticism. possible, did. However, he left a clear indicator, he is a conservative and respects his origins, however, his biggest challenge is being head of government in a conservative monarchy.
But who is the replacement for former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was in office for approximately 44 days?
Rishi Sunak was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022 and Chief Secretary of the Treasury from 2019 to 2020. Member of the Conservative Party and Member of Parliament since 2015. Born in Southampton, 42, to Indian parents who emigrated from East Africa, Sunak was educated at Winchester College. He later studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and later earned an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar. While studying at Stanford, he met his wife Akshata Murty, daughter of NR Narayana Murthy, the Indian billionaire entrepreneur who founded Infosys. After graduating, he worked at Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund Management and Theleme Partners.
It should be noted that Akshata Murty has a strong influence on Sunak’s rise, as she is the daughter of one of the richest men in India, which gave her a certain advantage in business. But, probably, it is in this aspect that it will be able to trigger some stirs.
British politics, perhaps throughout Europe, has recently presented several challenges, several problems, depending on the political situation that the world is going through, the result of economic crises, caused by various moments, from the question of BREXIT itself, Espionage, COVID-19, Russo-Ukrainian War, and Today the deepest, the Leaderships and their Decisions. Therefore, the problem of England and of many countries in Europe, is very much around their leaders, in making SOVEREIGN decisions.
“There is no doubt that we face a profound economic challenge,” Sunak said after the victory. “Now we need stability and unity, and I will make that my highest priority to unite our party and our country.”
In this speech, he demonstrates that he knows the problem and will act in order to mitigate this dilemma, but will he have all the popular support according to his origins, taking into account that there are already many dissenting voices within the court and the people?
Boris Johnson, one of the favorites for the race, admitted that he could no longer unite the party after one of the most turbulent periods in British political history, and he did not run as a candidate.
The former head of funds will face major challenges, tasked with rebuilding the UK’s fiscal reputation through deep spending cuts amid rising energy, food and mortgage rates. He will also preside over a party that has bounced from one crisis to another in recent months, very divided along ideological lines, and the country that is growing increasingly angry at the conduct of its politicians, fueling political skepticism.
“The UK is a great country, but we face a deep economic crisis,” said Sunak.
Sunak is in favor of Brexit, for this reason, his government program consists of the fact that he wants to “fix our economy, unite our party and deliver it to our country”.
On Northern Ireland, Sunak said he would move forward with legislation designed to unilaterally nullify the Brexit deal, while insisting on negotiating with the European Union. The bill, currently in parliament, has been heavily criticized by the EU. On Brexit more broadly, he pledges to “keep Brexit safe” and created a government unit to review EU regulations that still apply to British law.
In July, he had said that he was proud to come from an immigrant family, but he believed that Britain should control its borders and would maintain a plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, that is, this idea of deportation to Rwanda, it was a strategy he participated in and supported, which sounds strange to someone who his parents were emigrants. Is it a purely political approach?
England is facing a toxic economic combination of recession and rising interest rates. The Bank of England is trying to rein in double-digit inflation as consumers face rising costs and falling real incomes.
Britain must restore its international financial credibility after leader Liz Truss’ plan for unfunded tax cuts and an expensive energy price guarantee spooked the market last month and forced the Bank of England to step in.
To balance a budget deficit worsened by rising borrowing costs that the crisis has caused, the next prime minister will likely have to oversee spending cuts and tax increases. A tax return dealing with this was scheduled for October 31, creating several deadlocks. Another big dilemma is that, the government faces pressure to help the most vulnerable families, even with this painful financial squeeze, with a jump in mortgage costs increasing the prices of food, heating and fuel caused by the War in Ukraine and other global factors, which continue to asphyxiate that monarchy.
As he was once Minister of Finance, between February 2020 and July 2022, he knows the problem well,and a monarchy accepts a head of government on the conditions in which he assumes, without clear dispute, it is because the problem in that kingdom is serious. The crisis they are going through, has put Britain on the path of the highest tax burden since the 1950s. Since he was head of finance, he has set the highest public spending, but promised more discipline and waste cuts.
During the previous leadership campaign in July, he criticized Truss’s tax-cutting agenda, saying he would only cut taxes once inflation had been brought under control. At the time, he outlined a plan to reduce the income tax from 20% to 16% by 2029.
Sunak supported the independence of the Bank of England and stressed the importance of government policy working alongside the central bank to control inflation.
One of Sunak’s first challenges will be to show he can control a Conservative Party that has a large majority in parliament but is riddled with factions that differ on key issues like Brexit and immigration..
Higher taxes will be strongly criticized by party members, others will oppose spending cuts in key areas such as health and defence.
Winning the leadership race is just the first step towards uniting a party that has sacked its last two leaders over internal differences, and has spent years arguing with itself over how to leave the European Union.
Sunak supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum but is still seen by some on the party’s right as very sympathetic to the European Union..
The key issue of trade with Northern Ireland is still being negotiated. Sunak could face pressure to strike a deal that rewrites parts of the initial withdrawal deal without giving in to enduring EU demands on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.
He will also face calls to fulfill government promises to control immigration in the country, an issue that many conservative lawmakers see as key to winning over voters in the upcoming election.
With all these challenges, can we look forward to any rapprochement with Africa at the highest level? On the 1st of this month, the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, received in audience the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Will it be through Sunak? Or in the background, the tension between the DRC and Rwanda, for the protection of their interests, with Angola as the mediator? We will see how the new Prime Minister fares in the coming days.
