On October 24th local time, with the last competitor Modant announcing his withdrawal from the campaign, former British financial minister Rich Sunak automatically became the leader of the Conservative Party, and is about to replace Tras, who has been in power for only 45 days, as the new British Prime Minister. The election of Sunak has created many history: the first non-white prime minister in British history, the young prime minister (42 years old) in the UK for 200 years, and the first prime minister born in the 1980s.
After Sunak was elected, the Conservative Party, which has been infighting in recent months, has rarely seen voices calling for unity. Johnson , Trass, Modant and others, as former opponents of Sunak, expressed their willingness to support Sunak. However, as the new prime minister, Sunak can really save the Conservative Party?
Let’s first say the conclusion that Sunak not only cannot save the Conservative Party, but may even bring a greater disaster to the Conservative Party. There are three main reasons.
First of all, the Sunak phase comes too easily. After Sunak won the election, BBC gave a comment: "Win" is very easy. This is not a good description. This time, compared with the multiple votes within the Conservative Party last time, Sunak won without entering the competition unit at all. His two opponents, former British Prime Minister Johnson and Conservative Leader Modant, did not gather the support of the 100 MPs needed to run for the election.
Johnson, who rushed back to London from the resort, even wanted to persuade Sunak to give way to himself through secret talks. However, what is embarrassing is that Johnson, who previously claimed that he had received 100 support from lawmakers, actually only received more than 50 votes. Finally, when the negotiations with Sunak broke down, he had to announce his renunciation.
Modant's situation is similar. Before withdrawing from the election, she kept telling the public that she had gathered the support of 100 members of parliament and reached the threshold for running for the election. As a result, she announced that she would give up the election until the last moment. What's even more ridiculous is that Modant's votes are even worse than Johnson, with only a dismal 20 votes.
A prime minister who came to power without even voting within the party, has many hidden dangers. Opponents can almost blurt out, accusing their election of incompatibility with democratic procedures and incorrect position. To put it bluntly, Sunak was promoted to the throne of prime minister by Conservative MPs in parliament. His election represents the will of Conservative MPs, not the will of all members of the Conservative Party.
In previous Conservative polls, Johnson's poll was much higher than Sunak. This result is consistent with the last time Sunak competed with Trass. When Conservative MPs voted, Sunak won a big victory, and when the party voted, Tras won. The difference is that last time, the candidate only needed 20 votes to enter the second round, which led to Tras, who barely missed into the second place in the voting of MPs, forced Sunak to declare his defeat without the result being fully released.
If the voting of MPs is aside, Sunak will definitely lose to Johnson. It is not difficult to see that Sunak has very weak foundations among the wider members of the Conservative Party. Once there is a slight turmoil in the future, it will be difficult for Sunak to sit in the prime minister safely, and may even follow in the footsteps of Johnson and Trass.
Secondly, Sunak's identity is still his biggest weakness. Before Johnson gave up his run, an ordinary Conservative Party member said in a TV interview that Sunak could not win, and he was not even the British. This can be broken down into three aspects.
First, Sunak is an Indian immigrant. In the eyes of white people, Sunak is not considered his own. The parliamentary elites may not feel that it is a big deal to have Sunak elected, but to the broader Conservative members, it is obvious that they cannot accept that a non-white person is the prime minister.
Second, Sunak was once an elite on Wall Street . In the eyes of the British, although this person grew up in the UK, he was an American in his bones. In addition, it was once rumored that he had a US green card, which allowed such a "exquisite" element to come to power. Conservatives believe that he could not speak for the British.
Third, Sunak is not only an Indian descent, but his wife is a rich Indian, and she is not a British. This undoubtedly further confirms the British's suspicion: Sunak has never fully integrated into the British identity, but is more like an Indian.
After all, the United Kingdom is not the United States and does not play the Democratic Party’s identity politics. Therefore, Sunak’s Indian identity has undoubtedly become his “original sin” and is also a stumbling block on the road to the Prime Minister.
Finally, Sunak's crisis not only comes from various uncertainties within the Conservative Party, but also the challenges of Labour Party .
Under the continuous internal struggle of the Conservative Party, the Labor Party has proposed to hold a general election ahead of schedule. According to British law, the only way for an opposition party to initiate an early general election is to initiate a motion of distrust. As long as more than half of the members agree to a vote of distrust in the final parliamentary vote, the general election can be held in advance. Although the Conservative Party currently has 358 seats in the House of Commons, accounting for 55% of the total seats. But as mentioned earlier, there have been some dissatisfaction with Sunak's possible election in the Conservative Party, and some people even took the initiative to propose that once Sunak is elected, an early election should be held immediately.
Sunak's election has failed to bridge the differences within the Conservative Party, and may even intensify the rift between Conservative MPs and ordinary members in the future. In addition, if someone within the Conservative Party cooperates with the Labor Party and engages in a vote of distrust, although this situation is unlikely to happen, once it happens, not only will Sunak's position as prime minister may be lost, but even the Conservative Party's ruling status may be lost in the early election.
Conservative MPs naively thought that choosing someone who understands the economy and has relevant qualifications would lead the UK out of the current predicament. Little do they know that the birth of this Indian Prime Minister may lead the Conservative Party into a deeper division. Sunak's election does not mean the end of the Conservative Party's internal struggle. It is just a half-time break, and the internal struggle will continue in the future. Sunak cannot save the Conservative Party, and it is hard to say whether he can sit in the prime minister for a long time.
