Rishi Sunak enters No 10 Downing Street today as the UK’s third prime minister in 2022, and its fifth in six years. Sunak’s investiture of Britain’s highest office may be part of the country’s revolving door political environment, but it is significant as the first time someone of Asian-heritage has made it to the top. The son of African-born Hindu parents of Indian Punjabi descent, Sunak is the first Indian-origin prime minister. That he enters the role the day after Diwali begins is just the cherry on top of the cake.

It’s a significant step for a country that once ruled over India as a colony of the British Empire.

Calling it a straight-up victory for meritocracy might be stepping a bit far, given that the privately-educated Sunak becomes prime minister without a single vote cast in his favour, and after replacing another unelected prime minister (Liz Truss) who beat him in the previous internal-party leadership vote. But it’s a form of a victory, sure.

The rise of Rishi Sunak

–              Rishi Sunak was born in the UK’s Southampton area to an Indian family. His grandparents hail from Punjab.

–              The son of a pharmacist mother and doctor father, he was educated at one of England’s most renowned schools, Winchester, and then Oxford. He spent three years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc and later gained an MBA from Stanford in California, where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.

–              The couple got married in 2009 and have two children — Krishna and Anoushka.

–              Sunak became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 2015 after he got elected from Richmond, Yorkshire.

–              In February 2020 he was designated as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the most important UK Cabinet post.

–              Sunak’s victory in the Tory leadership race came at the end of a dramatic few days in Westminster since Liz Truss resigned on October 20 in the wake of a disastrous tax-cutting mini-budget and several policy U-turns.

–              Former PM Boris Johnson ruling himself out from the contest over the weekend and Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt conceding defeat just moments before the shortlisting deadline on October 24 paved the way for a remarkable political comeback for Sunak.

–              He now faces the enormous challenge of steering the UK economy through massive inflationary turbulence and also uniting the different wings of a divided Conservative Party.

Major challenges

First, the UK’s economic crisis and currency that have particularly suffered ever since Liz Truss’s mini-budget, need to be fixed right away. But that also means there will be immediate tax increases and sharp spending cuts. Worries are that areas such as health care, education and pension funds may be affected the most. It is forecast that schools will run out of cash next year. The National Health Service (NHS) has been under severe pressure with lack of funds and workers, and this winter will be a challenging one.

Sunak will have to address the country’s inflation, national debt, cost of living and energy crisis. He will have to help common people ensure they have food on the table and heating at home at the same time and don’t ever need to choose between either. It is going to be an incredibly difficult few months for Britons, and it is on Sunak and his cabinet to stabilise the economic issues. Second, he has the challenge of uniting the Conservative Party, which is widely divided at the moment. But MPs believe Sunak will be able to unite the party and get it ready to win the 2024 election against Labour. He is also most likely to swing the Asian votes in London and other parts of the UK from Labour to Conservative, provided he can have a balanced and sensible cabinet and useful and practical policies. Third, Sunak who voted to exit the EU will now have to deal with post-Brexit trade complications, especially in Northern Ireland.

Fourth, the UK-India relations and the pending completion of FTA will also be under focus.

Fifth, his foreign policy needs to look after Ukraine and its current situation. Former PM Boris Johnson was extremely passionate about Ukraine’s war against Russia, and Britain has provided military aid.