On October 24th local time, Sunak will take over the British shortest term Prime Minister Tras and become the new British Prime Minister. This prime minister who has been in politics for only 8 years has many labels, including three of the most eye-catching ones - the first minority prime minister, the first prime minister richer than the king and his wife, and the first prime minister born in the 1980s.
The first minority prime minister, more money than the king
On May 12, 1980, Rishi Sunak was born in the port city of southern England Southampton , with his ancestral home in Punjab, India. Sunak's father Yashuwell and mother Usha grew up in East Africa and moved to the UK in the 1960s. Sunak's father is reportedly a general practitioner of the UK National Health Service (NHS), and his mother is a pharmacist.
Sunak's father Yashuwell (first from right), mother Wusha (third from right), and Sunak (first from left) is the eldest son in the family.
Born in the UK Sunak is a devout Hindus. In November 2020, he lit a candle at " 11 Downing Street ", next to the official residence of the British Prime Minister's Office, to celebrate the "Diwali Festival" in India, and also to celebrate his becoming the first Indian-born prime minister in the UK. This is one of the "most proudest moments" in his life. It is worth noting that the 2022 Indian "Diwali Festival" happened to fall on October 24, when Sunak became the official Prime Minister.
In addition to Indians, Sunak's more important tag is "elite". Although Sunak was not from a prominent family, with the full support of his parents, Sunak received a British aristocratic education since childhood. After graduating from Winchester Public School, one of the most famous private schools in the UK, he entered Oxford University to study philosophy, politics and economics. After graduating from undergraduate studies, I went to , one of the Ivy League universities in the United States to study for an MBA. Sunak has worked in Goldman Sachs Group and an hedge fund , and has also jointly established an investment company .
In October 2014, Sunak was elected as a Conservative MP in Richmond, Yorkshire and officially entered politics. As a staunch supporter of Brexit, Sunak was appointed as Deputy State Secretary of the Parliament of the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government by then-British Prime Minister Theresa May in January 2018. In July 2019, Sunak became the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. In February 2020, Sunak became the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and became the youngest owner in the history of the Finance Minister's Residence No. 411 Downing Street.
While studying at Stanford, Sunak met Akshata Murthy and got married in 2009. Murti's father is Narayana Murti, who has a net worth of US$45 billion and is known as the "father of India's IT industry". In this way, financial elite Sunak officially entered the "upper class". According to British media estimates, the Sunaks' common property reached 730 million pounds, about twice that of the British King Charles III .
Sunak took a photo with his wife and father-in-law.
When Sunak was engaged in the financial industry, his personal ability and father-in-law's support made his career smooth. But after he entered politics in 2014, the tag "Duijin" in has attracted a lot of doubts for him.
Recently, is it too rich to be the prime minister with Rich Sunak, who has a net worth of 730 million pounds? 》 published an article on the title of "Sign Up" criticizing Sunak's wealth and his "showing off wealth" are too out of touch with the current living conditions faced by the British people. When he was campaigning with Tras in July to replace Johnson as British Prime Minister, Sunak inspected the construction site wearing a 3,500 pound custom suit and a pair of 450 pound brand leather shoes. It was in sharp contrast with Tras wearing a pair of 4.5 pound earrings, and was criticized by the British media and the public for being "ungrounded". In addition, Sunak was also revealed that before entering politics, he made a statement that "I have rich friends, upper-class friends... no working-class friends", which greatly reduced his image in the hearts of voters.Even within the Conservative Party, many of his supporters admitted that Sunak's wealth and "not simple enough" image make him look less pleasing when most British families are facing economic difficulties.
Sunak was criticized for being "ungrounded" in an expensive suit and leather shoes.
However, Sunak's financial elite character is also one of the keys to his becoming the new prime minister.
needs "knowledge" to repair the British economy
After Tras resigned, Sunak did not publish a new platform, but posted a post on social media on the 23rd to emphasize: "The UK is a great country, but it is facing a profound economic crisis... This is why I am ready to become the leader of the Conservative Party and your next prime minister." The tweet of
shows that Sunak knows deeply where his advantage lies - the economy.
When he was running against Tras, Sunak slammed Tras' economic policies, warning that its "fairy tale-like" tax cuts would push the British economy to the brink of collapse. At that time, Tras responded to Sunak's "insertion" and Sunak insisted that he "did rather lose the campaign than make promises that he could not do without his conscience." Shortly after Tras came to power, he launched a large-scale tax cut, with an estimated tax cut of £45 billion, hoping to release economic activities by reducing the burden on companies. But as Sunak foresaw, both the market and the outside world judged that Tras' policy was unsustainable. After its announcement of its plan, the exchange rate of pound and continued to fall, while the yield on UK Treasury bonds continued to rise. UK sovereign debt and financial governance are regarded by investors as no different from countries with sovereign debt on the verge of bankruptcy.
Under multiple challenges such as energy crisis , supply chain crisis , and the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the challenges facing the UK in inflation and economic growth are intensifying. correctly "prophecy" of Trass's "financial disaster" has established Sunak's extremely credibility among the Conservatives and the British people, and has significantly increased his favorability in this round of elections. In addition, when Sunak took office as British Chancellor of the Exchequer in February 2020, he promoted a series of measures to stabilize the UK economy in response to the blow caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Among them, Sunak's 12 billion pound stimulus plan and 350 billion pound suffrage plan were highly supported by the public.
Economy is Sunak's well-deserved strength, but at the same time, his high professionalism also means that he has no advantages in other aspects. Some Sunak’s party supporters also admitted that , given that Sunak has only been in politics for eight years and has no cross-departmental governance experience, may not be able to cope with the multiple crises facing the UK now.
British media said that what awaits Sunak is a "mess" and he must master political skills and foreign policy as soon as possible. With the British people running out of patience with the Conservative Party, Sunak has only a "small window of opportunity" to reverse the decline of the British economy.
[Integration] Zou Feixu
[Planning] Zheng Youzhi Chen Meiyu
