After a brief period of party political manoeuvring, Rishi Sunak has been announced as the leader of the Conservative Party, which will make him the prime minister of the country. This came after former Prime Minister Liz Truss had to step down after 44 days in power. Sunak will be the third prime minister in three months, which is unprecedented in British political history, and as the second Prime Minister with an ethnic minority background in the UK, it has taken 148 years since Benjamin Disraeli for someone from a visible ethnic minority to reach the highest political office in the land. And on this day of Diwali, which is the Festival of Light for Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, and newer Buddhists.
Rishi Sunak comes into power at a time of considerable consternation facing the economy and society in the UK today. The lingering impacts of an inflationary crisis in the context of a shrinking economy are the context of the yet-to-be fully implemented Brexit withdrawal agreement. There are many tensions and concerns about employment, pay, development, and opportunity at one level, but at another level, issues to do with the quality and delivery of public services such as health, education, and housing, which have seen considerable dis-investment in recent years, are also significant concerns for vast swathes of Britain.
There is also the precarious nature of the political balance of the Conservative Party, which consists of those who have a hard ideological perspective on Europe and ideas related to sovereignty, which are forms of muted ethnic nationalism, and then there are those who probably form the last of the few who have a one-nation principle that seeks to bring all aspects of society together to deliver services and opportunities with relatively equal weight.
What happens now will define Sunak’s political legacy, not least in that he is personally the richest member of parliament, married to a non-Dom billionaire’s daughter, having come through a very privileged and elite public school but also the higher education citadels of Oxford and Stanford. In every way, he is elite, but he was not born into this world in this way. He pulled himself up through his sheer will and determination while being protected and nurtured by East African Asian parents who put hard work, determination, and ambition at the top of their agendas. He is a self-made person and, therefore, is likely to appreciate some of the struggles that come with such a life. He is also likely to take forward an approach that is fair and balanced, given his performance during the pandemic period as chancellor. However, he represents a political party that has been increasingly seen as serving the interests of the very few. Tax relaxation and restrictions on public spending, including in deprived areas, something which he has proudly mentioned in the previous campaign to become Prime Minister, suggest that there will be forces that deviate from the new thinking about society as a whole, at a time when wider political and economic struggles may be threatened by oligarchic and Conservative Party HQ funding interests.
It is way too early to start to draw any kind of conclusions, and so it is right to come back to the very start of my reflection on what happened today. This is a tremendous moment and a clear signal that in a society that is often deemed as racist, inward-looking, and exclusive, it is possible to make progress to a sufficient extent that a person of colour from an ordinary background can reach the top of political life. This should be a clear signal to all. This is important at a time when, across the world, polarisation and nationalism have impacted issues of resilience and cohesion. Such an important symbolic outcome as a result of the overwhelming support of the Conservative parliamentary party does carry some weight. However, the caveat will always remain. The Tories are in a bit of a mess, and the economy has a long way to go to rebalance itself. Perhaps Sunak is the man to fix it all.