Rishi Sunak’s campaign to stay British PM showed his lack of political touch

LONDON — Rishi Sunak’s campaign to remain British prime minister showed a lack of political touch.

The Conservative Party’s problems were serious before Friday’s meeting. resounding electoral defeat but missteps by Britain’s richest prime minister contributed to his defeat.

Predecessors like Tony Blair and Boris Johnson they were more politically astute and able to connect with voters. As for Sunak, he did not have to call an election until January 2025. He defied political advice by doing so in May, with Conservative support steadily declining amid an economic crisis, ethics scandals and a revolving door of leaders over the past two years. . – and announced the date of July 4 Under the rain.

What’s more, the Conservative Party seemed unprepared for the campaign compared to the Labor Party, and voters didn’t really feel the improvement of the british economy still.

“I have heard your anger, your disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss,” Sunak said in his final speech as prime minister outside the residence at 10 Downing St.

Arguably Sunak’s biggest mistake, one that led to his apology and which many analysts believe was the ultimate death knell for the Conservative Party campaign, was his decision to Leave early for the 80th D-Day commemorations. in northern France on June 6.

Critics said the decision to skip the international event that closed the commemorations showed a lack of respect for veterans and diminished the UK’s international standing. Other world leaders were present, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. How was it Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Born in 1980 in Southampton, on the south coast of England, to parents of Indian descent, Sunak became Britain’s first black leader and the first Indian to become prime minister. At 42, he was Britain’s youngest leader for more than 200 years.

Sunak, a former hedge fund manager at Goldman Sachs and married into a billionaire Indian family, rose quickly within the Conservative ranks. Now 44, he became head of the Treasury on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic. Within weeks, he had to present the largest economic support package of any non-war Chancellor of the Exchequer, a package that many believed would save millions of jobs.

Long a small-state, low-tax politician, despite the high-spending nature of that package, Sunak had a history of idolizing former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Gentle, confident and comfortable with the advancement of modern technology, Sunak was nicknamed “Dishy Rishi” and quickly became one of the most trusted and popular faces within the Johnson administration during the rigors of the pandemic.

Johnson was forced to resign in the summer of 2022 after being found guilty of lying to Parliament about breaches of coronavirus lockdowns at his offices in Downing Street. As if that weren’t bad enough, confidence in the Conservatives plummeted further when his successor Liz Truss backed a package of unfunded tax cuts that choppy financial markets and soared borrowing costs, particularly for homeowners already struggling with the most acute cost-of-living crisis in decades. His tenure as Prime Minister was the shortest in the history of the United Kingdom.

When Sunak replaced Truss, he presented himself as a stable boy. He constantly reminded voters that he had warned Conservative Party members about the recklessness of Truss’s economic plan when he challenged her to succeed Johnson. On the day he replaced Truss after her traumatic 49-day term in October 2022, the Conservatives trailed Labor by around 30 percentage points.

As Treasury chief, Sunak was praised for implementing his COVID-19 job retention package which arguably saved millions of jobs. But that came at a cost: It pushed the country’s tax burden to its highest level since the 1940s.

In his 21 months as prime minister, Sunak struggled to control bitter divisions within his Conservative Party. One side wanted him to be much tougher on immigration and bolder on cutting taxes, while another urged him to move more towards the center of politics, the space where, historically, British elections are won.

In his concession speech, Sunak said he would serve a full term in parliament until 2029 and would remain as leader until the Conservative Party had chosen a successor.

“It is important that, after 14 years in government, the Conservative Party rebuilds itself, but also that it assumes its crucial role in the opposition in a professional and effective manner,” he said.

Many think he might be tempted to return to the United States in the coming years, perhaps to pursue his interest in artificial technology.

After his school years at Winchester College, one of Britain’s most expensive boarding schools, Sunak went to Oxford University to study politics, philosophy and economics, the career of choice for future prime ministers. He then earned an MBA at Stanford University, which proved to be a launching pad for his subsequent career as a hedge fund manager at Goldman Sachs in the United States.

There he met his wife, Akshata Murty, daughter of the billionaire founder of Indian technology giant Infosys. They have two daughters. The couple are the richest residents of 10 Downing Street so far, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2024, with an estimated fortune of £651 million ($815 million). They are even richer than King Charles III, a level of wealth that many say left him out of touch with the daily problems of most people.

With his fortune secured, Sunak was elected to Parliament for the safe Conservative seat of Richmond in Yorkshire in 2015. In the British Brexit referendum of 2016, he supported leaving the European Union, an “exit” that came unexpectedly and that many Britons today regret.