Rishi Sunak is making history by being the first British Prime Minister of immigrant background in the country’s history, as well as the first non-white prime minister to reach this position.
Sunak’s path to the premiership was not paved with roses, after he failed to compete against the resigned Prime Minister Liz Terrace to succeed former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, despite receiving wide support from Conservative Party deputies, but he did not seem to convince the party’s constituency bloc (130 thousand members).
Just as Barack Obama was the first black and African American president, Rishi Sunak achieved this feat in Britain. He is of Indian origin, and observers believe that history did justice to him in a short time, after it became clear that his warnings about the economic plan of Liz Truss would inflict great losses on the country, and that was what he actually was.
Rishi Sunak is a newcomer to holding senior positions in his country. He did not become a Conservative parliamentarian until 2010 and held small government positions in Theresa May’s government before becoming Treasurer in Boris Johnson’s government.
Sonak was born to parents of Indian origin who came to Britain, so the father worked in medicine and the mother owned a pharmacy, which gave him a comfortable financial situation and qualified him to enter the prestigious Oxford University. Over the years, Rishi Sunak kept away from politics, as he was preoccupied with the fields of finance and business, and worked as an advisor to some of the largest banking institutions in the world.
Sonak is often known as one of the richest politicians in the country, and this is due to the wealth of his wife (Akshata Murthy), who is one of the richest women in the United Kingdom, and her wealth aroused a lot of controversies after it was revealed that her companies benefited from tax havens away from Britain.
In normal circumstances, Sunak was the right man to succeed Boris Johnson and lead the country in its worst economic conditions, where inflation was the highest in 40 years, instead of economic stagnation, as he showed skill in dealing with the Corona epidemic and managed the United Kingdom treasury well.
But the Conservative Party base had its own calculations and other questions and preferred Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak, who then quietly withdrew and remained adamant in his position that Liz Truss’s promises would not succeed.
Historical coincidences played an important role in the rise of Rishi Sunak’s star, starting with his assumption of the position of Treasury Minister in difficult circumstances, as represented in the Corona pandemic period. Then, Sunak managed the crisis with high professionalism that contributed to not losing hundreds of thousands of jobs, providing aid to needy groups, and soft loans to affected companies. from closing. Then it will be Sunak, the straw that broke Boris Johnson’s back when he announced his resignation from this government and accused Johnson of not serving the interests of the country. This came after the prime minister was involved in many scandals in which he violated the rules of government work, and Sunak’s resignation constituted a strong blow to Johnson that forced him to resign his position.
And when he lost the race for prime minister to Liz Terrace, everyone thought that Rishi Sunak’s political path had been halted for a while, especially after it emerged that the Conservative Party base was not prepared to accept a leader of immigrant background.
Rishi Sunak had a good day because he kept repeating that Liz Terrace’s economic plans were unrealistic and would exacerbate the country’s crisis. Indeed, Sunak’s expectations were true, which increased his share in the ranks of the Conservatives, until a conviction was formed among the Conservative Party deputies that Sunak was the man of the stage, especially with his economic background. able to understand the country’s problems and work to solve them.
Sunak knows that it is his historic opportunity to lead the country despite the difficult circumstances facing the country, but an important factor that will play in his favor is to ensure the support of the parliamentary bloc for the Conservative Party, as they all know that this is their last chance, and they must rally around their new leader. In the event of his failure, the choice will be early elections, and all opinion polls suggest that any elections ahead of their time will carry Labor to power.
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