Rishi Sunak to become UK's first British-Asian Prime Minister
Eoin McCaul
Rishi Sunak is now set to be the UK’s first British-Asian Prime Minister, after Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the race earlier today.
Sunak missed out on winning the premiership in the previous contest, winning a majority of MP votes but losing the membership vote to Liz Truss. The race was closer than polls in the run up had predicted, however, with Truss winning 57.4 per cent of votes to 42.6 per cent for Sunak.
Last night, Boris Johnson ended his purported bid to reclaim the top office (before having officially declared), stating:
“I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 – and tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow.
But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.
I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”
Supporters of Johnson’s bid argued that because he had won in 2019, he was the only candidate who had a mandate from British voters. Opponents were quick to point out the scandals that resulted in his deposition, with Johnson still under investigation for breaking the law during lockdown.
Mordaunt entered the public eye in the last leadership contest, making it to the final three despite starting as a lesser-known figure. She was made Leader of the House of Commons after Truss won, taking a more central role after the PM’s power began to dwindle.
Conceding in the leadership race today she said:
“These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest, it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty.
We all owe it to the country, to each other and to Rishi to unite and work together for the good of the nation.”
Rishi Sunak was born to a GP and a Pharmacist from East Africa, with roots in Punjab, India.
He attended the prestigious Winchester College, where he was Head Boy, before studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University.
Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty have a combined fortune of £730 million, with Murty being the daughter of India’s sixth richest man. They are among the top 300 richest people in Britain.
The couple had previously faced criticism over Murty’s non-domiciled status, which allowed her to avoid an estimated £20 million of tax on income earned abroad while living in the UK. As a result of the backlash from the media, she gave up this status, adding that she didn’t want it “to be a distraction for my husband”.
Sunak previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Boris Johnson during the Covid-19 pandemic, having responsibility for the £69 billion furlough scheme and the Eat Out to Help Out initiative.
He was not completely insulated from the ‘Partygate’ scandal that gained momentum in late 2021, when it was revealed that Johnson had hosted a number of lockdown-breaking booze-ups. Sunak kept himself removed from the scandal but was eventually forced to admit that he had attended some of the parties, and faced a fine as a result.
His resignation on July 5 following the scandal surrounding the appointment of Chris Pincher, began the slate of MP resignations which would result in Johnson’s resignation. Pincher was publicly facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and it was revealed that Johnson knew about these before promoting him to Deputy Whip.
In his last bid for leadership, Sunak criticised Truss’ tax plans as “fairy tale economics”, a claim that many will now see as vindicated by the turmoil of her short term as leader.
Eoin McCaul is the Scoop’s head comment editor and a third year Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at Queen’s University Belfast