Explainer / The rise of Rishi Sunak and his immediate challenges

• Rishi Sunak took charge as Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister on October 25, a day after he was elected the leader of the Conservative Party in a historic leadership run.

• It is a spectacular moment in UK’s history, where a child of an immigrant takes the responsibility of running the country, where the Indian population is no more than 1.5 million.

• The 42-year-old investment banker-turned politician is the youngest British Prime Minister in 210 years. He is also Britain’s first Hindu Prime Minister.

The rise of Rishi Sunak

• Rishi Sunak was born in the UK’s Southampton area to an Indian family. His grandparents hail from Punjab.

• The son of a pharmacist mother and doctor father, he was educated at one of England’s most renowned schools, Winchester, and then Oxford. He spent three years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc and later gained an MBA from Stanford in California, where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.

• The couple got married in 2009 and have two children — Krishna and Anoushka. 

• Sunak became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 2015 after he got elected from Richmond, Yorkshire.

• In February 2020 he was designated as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the most important UK Cabinet post.

• Sunak’s victory in the Tory leadership race came at the end of a dramatic few days in Westminster since Liz Truss resigned on October 20 in the wake of a disastrous tax-cutting mini-budget and several policy U-turns.

• Former PM Boris Johnson ruling himself out from the contest over the weekend and Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt conceding defeat just moments before the shortlisting deadline on October 24 paved the way for a remarkable political comeback for Sunak.

• He now faces the enormous challenge of steering the UK economy through massive inflationary turbulence and also uniting the different wings of a divided Conservative Party. 

Major challenges

First, the UK’s economic crisis and currency that have particularly suffered ever since Liz Truss’s mini-budget, need to be fixed right away. But that also means there will be immediate tax increases and sharp spending cuts. Worries are that areas such as health care, education and pension funds may be affected the most. It is forecast that schools will run out of cash next year. The National Health Service (NHS) has been under severe pressure with lack of funds and workers, and this winter will be a challenging one. 

Sunak will have to address the country’s inflation, national debt, cost of living and energy crisis. He will have to help common people ensure they have food on the table and heating at home at the same time and don’t ever need to choose between either. It is going to be an incredibly difficult few months for Britons, and it is on Sunak and his cabinet to stabilise the economic issues.

Second, he has the challenge of uniting the Conservative Party, which is widely divided at the moment. But MPs believe Sunak will be able to unite the party and get it ready to win the 2024 election against Labour. He is also most likely to swing the Asian votes in London and other parts of the UK from Labour to Conservative, provided he can have a balanced and sensible cabinet and useful and practical policies.

Third, Sunak who voted to exit the EU will now have to deal with post-Brexit trade complications, especially in Northern Ireland.

Fourth, the UK-India relations and the pending completion of FTA will also be under focus.

Fifth, his foreign policy needs to look after Ukraine and its current situation. Former PM Boris Johnson was extremely passionate about Ukraine’s war against Russia, and Britain has provided military aid.

(With inputs from The Week)

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