UK Conservative Party just revealed their choice for the next British Prime Minister. Liz Truss’ successor will be 42 years old Rishi Sunak.
Fifth Prime Minister in six years, successor of the shortest tenure in British history, Rishi Sunak just got the most unenviable job in the World. At 42, the youngest in 200 years, Sunak will take the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom later this week.
He is a member of the Conservative Party, and won the race to become Prime Minister against Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt. Neither of them had the numbers necessary for an election, so they paved the way for Sunak to take the post. Among the several other records, Sunak is also the first Hindu to become British PM.
JUST IN: @RishiSunak has been elected as the Leader of the Conservative Party pic.twitter.com/Oa52WWwFck
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) October 24, 2022
The UK is going through a particularly troubled period. Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, resigned from her post after only 44 days in office. In her short term, she managed to plummet the Pound with the worst imaginable policy plan.
Her and former Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng proposed a 45 billion tax cut for the richest percentile. The move received huge backlash from all sides: even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and US President Joe Biden expressed their disappointment.
As the Pound fell to the lowest levels in 40 years, Liz Truss attempted a panic reshuffle of cabinet, which only made things worse. After two of the most important ministers lost their post, Liz Truss had no choice but to step down.
What are Rishi Sunak’s chances
Sunak takes the lead of the Tories at a time of historically low approvals. The UK never managed to admit or to address the consequences of Brexit,a choice that objectively destroyed the British economy in the short term. Boris Johnson, the “Let’s get Brexit done” PM, could only scramble a deal that left the UK isolated and worse off than the rest of Europe.
Rishi Sunak used to be Johnson’s Finance Minister. He endorsed Brexit back in the day, but always had more moderate positions. He did not reveal any policy plan yet, and maybe it is for the best.
General elections in the UK are either called by the running government or constitutionally required every five years. This means that the next British elections will be in 2025 unless the Tory government decides to commit political suicide and call for them.
So, Rishi Sunak has three years to steer the ship back up and try to resuscitate the Conservative Party. The damage of his predecessors, however, might be too deep to mend.
