RISHI SUNAK: The accidental prime minister

Rise of Rishi to the top office in U.K. is not entirely because of multiculturism that United Kingdom has embraced over the years.

Racism is so pervasive in the United Kingdom that it took a financial collapse, two prime ministerial resignations, a lack of an electoral mandate, and severe economic privilege on his part for multiculturalism to succeed. But, in order to understand the gravity of his rise and the choices he faces, Sunak must be placed at the crossroads of two interlocking political and economic conundrums. Sunak needs to gain the support of pro-Brexit, anti-migrant constituencies who do not see him as an English “patriot” because of his skin colour. Economically, he must strike a traditional balance between welfare spending to alleviate an electorally salient cost-of-living crisis and increasing support for big private business.What causes these conundrums? Sunak is a privileged minority on both counts because race and class are major fault lines in British national life. Sunak is a private school educated man who is literally richer than King Charles III. Sunak’s upbringing has ensured that he has never truly faced the brunt of Britain’s race politics until now. the pressure he must be feeling as a non-white prime minister who, regardless of how he performs, could be reduced to being a “outsider” in his own country. “Rishi Sunak isn’t even British,” a racist Tory supporter said on national radio. “I’m simply stating what Tory voters believe.” Sunak needs to stabilise the economy in order to win over an electorate that he barely understands and whose problems he cannot fully grasp. He has less than two years to do so before British multiculturalism’s success becomes what it most likely is: An accident. The fact that this is happening despite Chancellor Sunak’s success in keeping many Britons afloat and alive during the pandemic exemplifies the kingdom’s structural inequalities.

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