Rishi Sunak became Britain's first prime minister of color on Tuesday after he won the race to lead the Conservative Party, tasked with steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.
Media reports say one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, Sunak, 42, becomes the country's youngest leader in modern times.
Reuters notes that elected for the first time to parliament in 2015, Rishi Sunak became Britain’s youngest prime minister in more than 200 years on October 24, tasked with steering the country through an economic crisis and mounting anger among some voters.
It is a remarkable return for Sunak who lost a leadership bid to Liz Truss less than two months ago when he was accused by some in the Conservative Party of bringing down their hero, Boris Johnson.
One of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, he enters Downing Street facing a need to make deep public spending cuts to stem a fiscal crisis, as well as tackling a cost-of-living crunch, a winter of strikes and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to Reuters, his backers say the former finance minister can restore Britain’s credibility with investors who sold the country’s bonds and sterling after Truss’s mini-budget offered tax cuts with little on how to fund them.
But the former Goldman Sachs analyst and hedge fund partner also faces challenges within the governing Conservative Party, where some lawmakers blame him for his role in ousting Johnson and are concerned he has not got what it takes to win elections.
The opposition Labour Party is likely to paint him as a member of the uber-rich elite, out of touch with the pressures faced by millions as Britain slides towards a recession, dragged down by the surging cost of food and energy.
Sunak’s marriage to the daughter of an Indian billionaire has also raised concerns in the Conservative Party that he is too far removed from the concerns of everyday voters, some of whom are being forced by spiraling inflation to decide whether to spend their money on food or heating.
Some fear he cannot reunite a party that is deeply divided and getting used to quickly dispensing with leaders they do not like.
Rishi Sunak is the first person of color to become Britain’s prime minister.
Born in Southampton in 1980 to Hindu parents of Punjabi Indian descent, Sunak repeatedly during the last leadership campaign spoke of helping his mum, who ran a pharmacy, with the books, doing payroll and accounts.
He had a privileged education – he went to an elite fee-paying school and is the latest prime minister to have studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University, following David Cameron and his predecessor, Truss.
