The irresistible Rishi Sunak!

Did the earlier nomination battle for the PM’s post between Rishi Sunak and Liz Struss, decided by the Tories, reveal racial leanings? The question could have hurt many who had voted against Rishi, despite knowing that between him and Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak could have handled the tattered U.K. finances better. Liz walked on thin ice when she declined to offer Rishi a say in her cabinet, filled with many new faces.

It seemed she did not have a clue about the reckless tax cuts for the corporates announced by her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, which would have further depleted the British treasury and increased the woes. Liz sacked Kwarteng in 38 days. Liz had placed a high priority on FTA with India and hoped to ink the agreement in October.

The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, caused a further rupture in Liz’s image with her foot-in-the-mouth statement that Indians overstayed the visa tenures in the U.K. and that the FTA must address this. Indian government reacted with a characteristic annoyance and put the FTA on hold, with New Delhi going silent on P.M. Modi’s visit to the U.K., deeply embarrassing the Liz-led government. Her discomfiture was palpable when she missed the parliament debating crucial issues on finance. Penny Mordaunt, her colleague, loudly took up the cudgels to defend the government, silently paving her way for the P.M.’s post.

An undeterred PM, Liz braved an interview where she claimed to be a fighter and shall survive the mistakes, saying sorry, as the British pound was battered and the rating agencies sharpened their knives downgrading the U.K. The pressure mounted overnight when many M.P.s from her party talked about her stepping down, and within twenty-four hours of her show of bravado that she would survive the full term, Liz stepped down as a lowly performer that the U.K. had ever witnessed.

Liz’s exit threw the nomination battle for the conservative party’s leader again. As a relative political novice, Penny Mordaunt threw her hat in the ring, hoping to do a repeat of Liz’s election. Later Boris Johnson, the former PM, who had quit violating Covid laws, expressed his return to 10 Downing Street. Rishi Sunak held on expertly to announce his candidature until the last moments and went in for a rampage.

The Tories had to atone for the sin of earlier ignoring the young Rishi as he now reached the magic mark of the backing of 100 M.P.s with relative ease. Rishi’s meeting with Boris was fruitful, the latter withdrawing from the contest. Penny claimed until the end that she had the numbers, a misplaced conviction, and had to quit the fray, leaving Rishi as the sole claimant to the British P.M.’s chair. Today, the official announcement confirmed Rishi as the next P.M. of the United Kingdom.

Rishi is inheriting a bad economy, the burden of high expectations and the tough way ahead. Ukraine war, the energy costs, the sliding currency, and a problematic trade scenario are only a few of the cumbersome legacies Rishi has to address. The world would be eagerly watching if another son of Indian lineage would recreate the magic and transform the British economy, just as the many Indian CEOs of MNCs like Google, Microsoft, and Twitter do.

Happy Diwali to one and all!

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Pic courtesy: ET