Fresh start at 10 Downing Street? The third Tory PM in a year, Rishi Sunak, promises more financial and economic literacy, but must assert himself against deep party and social divisions – and political zombie Boris Johnson.
Whatever one may expect from Rishi Sunak as the new British Prime Minister, one thing is to be expected: that he knows how to handle money. At least with your own. The 42-year-old son of Indian immigrants is considered one of the richest politicians in the UK. The former investment banker married into an Indian IT dynasty worth millions.
He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer under his pre-predecessor Boris Johnson and is likely to enjoy more trust in the financial center of London and beyond than his immediate predecessor Liz Truss, who wreaked unprecedented fiscal havoc during her short tenure. According to British commentators, Sunak is right to point out that he warned early on about Truss’ suicidal financial policy.
The new prime minister faces the difficult task of continuing the cleanup of Truss’ last Treasury Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Until the resignation of his hapless boss last week, he was working on a billion-euro savings package that he wanted to present by the end of the month.
Sunak can already claim one credit for himself on the lapel of his expensive suit: he prevented Boris Johnson from becoming a political revenant, whatever. Recently ousted Prime Minister Johnson, ready to pry himself from the political grave as a zombie, had rushed to London from his vacation in the Caribbean to brazenly impose himself as a beacon of hope for his Conservative party – having only just plunged them into a deep crisis of confidence had fallen.
It is one of the oddities of British domestic politics, and of the Tories in particular, that Johnson seriously reckoned he could get back on track. It remains to be seen what promises Sunak made to him privately in order to get rid of him as a rival in his own ranks. Sunak’s last competitor in the party’s internal race for power, Penny Mordaunt, should also expect a price for her good political behavior.
The bottom line is that the fact that Sunak so quickly emerged as the sole candidate for 10 Downing Street could put the UK, beset by severe economic problems, back on the path to political empowerment. The new team, which Sunak will gather around him, can be seen as the very last contingent of the Tories, who must avoid a new election at all costs in view of the disastrous poll numbers.
Sunak’s becoming the first UK prime minister from a migrant background is more of a side note. His social position and reality of life have not the slightest thing in common with most of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Indian origin. But not only in the deeply divided Conservative Party a mediation and integration service awaits him, but also in British society as a whole.
“Middle England”, the country’s oppressed middle class, is shaken by existential worries and distrust of politics. The opposition Labor Party will not hesitate to contrast the supposed or actual prosperity of Sunak, who is worth millions. For a long time now, his party has appeared as an organization with only one main purpose: to secure their own sinecures for those in office and those with privileges.
The fact that Sunak found significantly more support in his own Tory faction than any of his competitors for his grip on power should not hide the fact that many scores still remain unanswered in this party. The seemingly indestructible Johnson combined his withdrawal from the race with an unmissable warning: “You cannot govern effectively without a cohesive party in Parliament.”
In addition, Johnson left a back door open: “I think I have a lot to offer, but now is just not the right time for it.” the past few months, who has a real election victory to show for – and still has the confidence to repeat it in 2024.
Boris Johnson seems harder to get rid of than the UK’s EU membership. You will probably hear from him again – at the latest after Sunak’s first mistake. Opportunities to do so abound in the deeply troubled UK.
Sunak’s march to 10 Downing Street coincides with the start of the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali. His relatively young political career was already clouded by awkward questions about his wife’s tax status.
While Johnson now stepped aside for the practicing Hindu, he may well recall that it was Sunak’s resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequer in his cabinet at the time that precipitated his downfall. Johnson loyalists then branded the apostate as Brutus wielding the dagger against Caesar in his robe. Somewhere in Westminster there is always a knife resting in the ranks of the Tories. Johnson just has to find it.
