According to the news on the 24th, the leader of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, Modant, admitted his failure and withdrew from the party leader's election, and expressed his full support for Sunak , which means that former British Chancellor Sunak will serve as the leader of the Conservative Party and become the new British Prime Minister. Sunak became the fifth prime minister of the party in six years and was also the first Indian-born prime minister in British history.
In recent years, chaos in the British political arena has occurred and scandals have continued to occur in the ruling Conservative Party. On October 20, Tras, who caused severe fluctuations in the UK financial market due to the "mini budget", and the exchange rate of 1 pound fell sharply, announced his resignation after serving as prime minister for only 45 days. This also made Tras the "shortest-lived" prime minister in British history.
The British Conservative Party is in a crisis of party leader again
Just this week, the candidate for the next prime minister of the UK has always been a topic of widespread attention. On October 23, former Prime Minister , regarded as Sunak's biggest competitor, announced his withdrawal from the Conservative Party leader's election. At that time, foreign media generally believed that this move was equivalent to giving up the road to , 10 Downing Street, to Sunak, and made him likely to quickly take over as British Prime Minister .
It is reported that Johnson was on vacation overseas when Tras announced his resignation. For the party's first election, Johnson hurried back to the UK on October 22 and held talks with Sunak that night in an attempt to reach an agreement, but the talks failed. However, Johnson also left a "back" for his re-select. He said in a statement: "I believe I still have a lot to show, but now is not the right time."
Sunak was once the Chancellor of the Chancellor of the Johnson cabinet
In the early morning of October 24 local time, Sunak said on social media that he would replace Tras as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. "British is a great country, but it is facing a profound economic crisis," Sunak wrote: "That's why I am ready to be the leader of the Conservative Party and your next Prime Minister."
Sunak tweets
Sunak becomes the leader of the Conservative Party
According to the charter formulated by the Conservative Party "1922 Committee", if you want to participate in the party leader's election, candidates must be nominated for at least 100 Conservative MPs. According to statistics from British media, as of the 24th local time, 155 people have publicly claimed to support Sunak.
After Johnson withdraws from the competition, the only competitor in front of Sunak is the leader of the House of Commons of the British Parliament Penny Modant , but only 25 people have publicly expressed their support for her. As of 2 pm local time on October 24, Modant has not received support from 100 Conservative MPs. Sunak becomes the leader of the Conservative Party, and the new prime minister will be produced at the latest at the end of this week.
Modant (left) and Sunak (right)
The first Indian Prime Minister Conservative Party member: He is not even a British
442-year-old Sunak was born in Southampton, England. He is an Indian Conservative MP. He worked in the financial industry before entering politics. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 2015. He served as Secretary of the Exchequer since February 2020. He resigned from this position on July 5 this year. In his resignation letter, he accused the then British Prime Minister Johnson of being incompetent, saying that he had lost confidence in him, and then decided to run for the head of the Conservative Party and the British Prime Minister.
However, not everyone was optimistic about this "popular" candidate before. On October 22, the British Conservative Party member Jerry directly pointed out that the party leader candidate Sunak "does not love England" in a British TV program, and is not even British in the eyes of most people.
"He can't win", Jerry stressed: "In most people's eyes, Sunak is not even British. He is loyal to the United States, his family is American, they are Indian businessmen, he does not love England as much as Boris ( Boris Johnson )."
In fact, for Sunak, in addition to the controversial point in his identity, he had previously violated the COVID-19 epidemic prevention regulations, was issued a ticket by the police in the "party gate" incident, and was revealed to have held a US green card. His wife was also accused of evading tens of millions of pounds of taxes. Some media said that as a rich man, Sunak could not understand ordinary people's concerns about the rising cost of living, and Sunak and his colleague Jia Weid were the first to resign and forced Johnson to be detained, which was considered "untrustworthy" within the Conservative Party. These will be severe challenges that Sunak has to face in the future on the road to uniting the Conservative Party.
Sunak and his wife
Is it feasible to promise to "repair the economy"?
After the largest radical tax cut in Tras in 50 years was proven to be a mistake, many Conservatives believed that Sunak was the "right person" in economic policy.
Sunak is regarded as a veteran in the party to stabilize the market. He was praised for helping the British economy through the pandemic crisis, but he was also criticized for raising tax revenue to the highest level in 70 years.
In March 2021, in order to cope with the unemployment crisis caused by the new crown epidemic, Sunak, then the Chancellor of the Finance Minister, proposed "forced paid leave" (furlough) scheme) plan. According to the plan, the government will pay 80% of the wages of employees who are forced to take leave due to the epidemic, with a maximum of £2,500 per person per month. This plan has won Sunak extremely high popularity.
2022 After Johnson announced his resignation in July this year, Sunak also participated in the Conservative Party’s top election and became the opponent of Trass. In the election, Sunak called Trass’ large-scale tax cut plan "fairy tale economics", warning that this move will push up inflation and trigger a sell-off in the financial market. Sunak’s warning at the time was also confirmed to be a reality.
On October 23, Sunak won the current Chancellor of the Finance Minister Hunter (Jeremy Hunt's public support. Previously, Hunt also expressed support for Sunak as prime minister after his leader's campaign was eliminated this summer. If Sunak succeeds in taking over as prime minister, Hunt is expected to continue as Chancellor of the Finance Minister in Sunak's government.
Outside noticed that Sunak made it clear that will curb inflation as the top priority and promised to "repair the economy." Andrew, chief economist at the Oxford Economics Institute Goodwin said that from the perspective of market impact, the new prime minister is unlikely to risk irritating the market again, such as seeking tax cuts or increasing public spending, but will continue to implement fiscal austerity policies proposed by the current Chancellor of the Chancellor.
Goodwin pointed out that the coherence of economic policies may be clarified in the latest round of fiscal statements issued on October 31. But this is also disadvantageous to the UK economy. "The tax burden now will be higher than previously expected, putting greater pressure on households with lower real incomes." In the case of a recession, increasing taxes and limiting public spending could make the economy even weaker. ”
The huge challenge faced by the next prime minister
At present, the British are struggling in the dilemma of rising inflation, deteriorating economy and political turmoil. From April to July 2022, the UK's inflation level set a record for 40 years, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising 10.1% year-on-year in September, reaching the highest level in nearly 40 years. The pound exchange rate against the US dollar fell to 1 to 1.13, the lowest level since 1985.
In addition, the British Labor Party, Liberal Democratic Party , Scottish National Party have requested an immediate general election. The leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Starmer, said that the UK is not a "private territory" for Conservatives and cannot withstand "another experiment of the Conservative Party's top leaders."
UK consumer confidence index has hovered near a 50-year low.
There is a view that no matter who takes over as prime minister in the end, it will face a difficult task, that is to let the Conservative Party reunite after months of turmoil.
"However, this new prime minister - if the Conservative MP can find someone who can unite the whole party - will also face huge challenges around his/her legitimacy." BBC Political Affairs Editor-in-Chief Mason pointed out that the latest poll results show that the Conservative Party's approval rating is at an all-time low and has lagged significantly behind Labor .
In a sense, elections are just a new starting point for the recurrence of political farces, which exposes the deep-seated problems of the British political system 's gradual failure. Ian Berger, professor at the Institute of European Studies at the London School of Economics in the UK, pointed out that a series of events that have occurred in the past few months show huge differences within the Conservative Party: "The Prime Minister, the Minister, and the decision-making will be changed and then quickly revoked. The British political arena is staged... This is not what the government should be."
Now that Sunak has successfully taken office, how much time does the Conservative Party have left?
Author丨Tian Xin, Shenzhen TV direct news editor
