Written By Prisha Jain (Grade 7)
Rishi Sunak is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022 after previously serving as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2020. He has been the Conservative Party’s Member of Parliament for Richmond since 2015. Sunak was born in Southampton to Indian parents. He attended Winchester College. After studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Lincoln College in Oxford, he went on to earn an MBA from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar. While attending Stanford, he met his future wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of N. R. Narayana Murthy, the Indian millionaire businessman who founded Infosys. Sunak and Murthy are the 222nd wealthiest people in the United Kingdom. Following college, he worked for Goldman Sachs before becoming a partner at Children’s Investment Fund Management and Theleme Partners.
He was a part of Boris Johnson’s government. As we know, Boris Johnson was forced to resign because he was involved in many a scandal. Mr. Johnson is currently acting as caretaker prime minister until the elections are over. While Rishi Sunak has been winning Conservative Party MPs, a recent poll shows him losing to both Liz Truss and Penny Mordant in the run-off election this summer, which will be determined by over 160,000 Conservative Party members. Rishi Sunak appears to be well placed in the contest to become British Prime Minister. The former UK chancellor won the first round of voting on Tuesday, putting him one step closer to becoming one of the two contenders to be named the new Conservative Party leader and the British Prime Minister.
Will Mr. Sunak make a good prime minister? He is already the cabinet’s most respected member. That is to say, he has the greatest approval rating. In comparison to the Prime Minister, who earned a majority of 80 seats, this is quite an accomplishment. Regardless of his own economic beliefs, he has set aside his ‘free market’ and classical liberal economic ideology for the sake of the country. He appears willing to make concessions for the sake of the country. Sunak would be the first Prime Minister from an ethnic minority group, as well as the first Hindu Prime Minister. He is supposed to bring a fresh perspective to UK politics, which may serve the country favourably. His commercial background would ensure positive interaction between the government and businesses. In a changing economic system, he appears to embrace innovation and independence, which would benefit smaller enterprises. His participation in the discussions during the General Election was well received by the people. This was clear once again during the news conference. So, Mr. Sunak can handle himself in stressful situations and hold his own.
But like every situation even this proposition has negatives. He hasn’t experienced any serious challenges. When your department and the government pay 80 percent of people’s salaries, it’s easy to be perceived as a nice guy. Businesses are likely to close and people will lose their employment when the furlough plan expires. While Sunak has stated that he will not be able to preserve every job, he will face the consequences of those who have and will lose their work. Despite his diverse upbringing and experiences, he is financially fortunate. He attended a private school and didn’t suffer any of the struggles that most people have had. His riches could be a disadvantage. He has no apparent political positions. He has attempted to speed up the opening of businesses and relaxing social distancing rules. However, putting pressure on someone else who must make that decision is easier when you don’t have to.
Therefore, he must offer something to the country that will garner public support, and if not, he must be prepared to defend his policies. However, he does not appear to have any fresh policy proposals that are not previously supported by the Conservative government. In addition, he also seems to lack integrity. When Theresa May’s government had said no to Brexit, Rishi Sunak was in support of that statement. But when Boris Johnson came to power and said yes to Brexit, Rishi Sunak changed his stance. Talk about a flip-flopper! To conclude, I feel that he will not make a good prime minister as he is a person lacking in integrity, which is a major no-no when it comes to being a prime minister.
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