Turmoil in Downing Street: Rishi Sunak Elected After Six-Week Term by Predecessor

On October 20, 2022, after a six-week term as prime minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss resigned from her post. As mentioned in the last issue of the Lakeside Leo, she caused an economic uproar with a shocking proposal for massive tax cuts directed at the wealthy. But without taxes, there was no way to pay for government expenditure. The markets panicked, and the value of the British pound plummeted to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar. Truss was forced to resign after a six-week term as Prime Minister—the shortest term served by a UK prime minister in history. After her resignation, another election was hastily held among the rest of the Conservative party to find her replacement. Thus, on October 25th, the Chancellor of Exchequer Rishi Sunak succeeded Truss as the prime minister.

Sunak was born in Southampton, UK, but his grandparents emigrated from Punjab, India. He attended Winchester College, and then Oxford, where he gained a degree in philosophy, politics and economics, and interned at the Conservative party headquarters. He moved to the USA, working on an MBA from Stanford University while also holding a position as a Goldman Sachs analyst. Sunak returned to the UK and married Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Indian billionaire Narayana Murthy. Over the years, the couple collected a massive fortune of around £730 million ($877 million), thanks to Sunak’s triumphs in business, and Murthy’s 0.91% share in the company Infosys. Sunak began working for the Conservative Party in 2010, and was promoted twice by Boris Johnson within the Treasury department. 

Aside from the unexpectedness of his appointment, Sunak’s rise to power as prime minister is also historic, since he is the first British Asian to hold the office. However, the South Asian community of Britain is largely divided about the significance of his appointment. Some view it as a sign of progress and social justice in the UK, while others believe that Sunak’s massive fortune and conservative beliefs make him an inadequate representative of their community.

Now that he has assembled his cabinet, Sunak’s primary challenge is fixing the economy, which is still reeling from Truss’s disastrous plans. But the financial crisis in Britain isn’t Sunak’s only concern. At the G20 summit, which began on November 13, 2022, Sunak spoke about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine was impacting the global economy. It is his belief that “today’s crisis is different, because it is being driven by a G20 member. By turning off the gas taps and choking off the Ukrainian grain supply Russia has severely disrupted global food and energy markets,” as he announced at the G20 summit last month. On December 7, he announced an energy security partnership with the United States to help combat global reliance on Russian exports. Looking ahead, Sunak and his newly formed government are still facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, between the Russia-Ukraine war’s impact on the global economy and the ongoing crisis and destabilization of the pound in Britain. Right now, the fate of the UK rests on the shoulders of Rishi Sunak - and whether he will be able to meet the challenge still remains to be seen.