UK prime minister

Ultra rich, young and the first person of colour to become UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak will also make history as the first practising Hindu to lead the ...

[multiple crises lie in Sunak’s in-tray](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/23/most-pressing-issues-next-tory-pm-rishi-sunak-penny-mordaunt-boris-johnson-conservative). As the Guardian wrote in its [editorial](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/24/the-guardian-view-on-rishi-sunak-profits-in-the-city-austerity-in-the-country) after he won the leadership, “Sunak seems intent on turning off household support for energy bills next April. [so, so, so many](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/23/ppe-oxford-university-degree-that-rules-britain) before him. Sunak has gone from MP to prime minister in just seven years – faster than any other PM in the modern era. Sunak’s path to the top wasn’t all smooth. They own four properties spread across the world and valued at more than £15m. The couple married in her home town of Bengaluru in a two-day ceremony in 2009 attended by 1,000 guests. Without that non-dom status she could have been liable for more than £20m of UK taxes on these windfalls, it was reported. According to reports, his daughter has a 0.91% stake in the company, worth about £700m. Sunak was born in Southampton in 1980 to Indian parents who had moved to the UK from east Africa. He later gained a master’s of business administration (MBA) at Stanford University, where he met [Akshata Murty](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/akshata-murty), his future wife, but where [few others remember him](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/05/rishi-sunak-stanford-business-school-few-remember). [multiple donations of over £100,000 to the school](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/05/rishi-sunak-and-wife-donate-over-100000-to-winchester-college?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1649174389).

Rishi Sunak's elevation to British Prime Minister is a socially significant moment. He's the first British Asian, or any person of colour, to become PM, ...

The party is behaving like one that has only the slimmest of majorities and is on its way out. But this may only prolong the pain, and defer a significant loss of seats whenever the next election arrives. The cost of living and energy crises will be the foremost political and economic challenges, but the B-word (Brexit) still casts a shadow. Now such divisions seem to be affecting the right of politics, too. This all feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. This appears to be happening in the UK, too. They increasingly appear as a small, ageing, and out-of-touch privileged class unable to see the true extent of the crisis that their choices in government have exacerbated. It’s not lived up to the over-inflated expectations of its most ardent boosters. His legitimacy with the electorate isn’t as strong as it could be, given that he’s the third Conservative leader and PM since the last election in 2019. The Conservatives have done a better job than other parties in putting more women and people of colour into positions of political influence and power. This will matter for perceptions of the new PM among the wider electorate. Having a multi-millionaire telling the nation to tighten its belts and make sacrifices to its already declining living standards won’t go down well.

and welcoming the accession of His Majesty King Charles III. In just a short period, this government has acted urgently and decisively on the side of ...

It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” I look forward to spending more time in my constituency, and continuing to serve South West Norfolk from the backbenches. and I wish Rishi Sunak every success, for the good of our country. And we must continue to strengthen our nation’s defences. We must be able to outcompete autocratic regimes, where power lies in the hands of a few. From my time as Prime Minister, I am more convinced than ever we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face.

Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister and hedge-fund manager, comes to office with some of the harshest economic headwinds Britain has faced in a ...

He called for “stability and unity” — the opposite of the tumult and divisions that characterized Truss’s tenure. Labour Party lawmaker Angela Rayner decried Sunak’s accession as a coronation and that the Tories could not “keep doling out prime ministers every month.” Labour leader He will also seek to unite his warring and unpopular Conservative Party, which, he warned, must “unite or die.” She closed with: “We continue to battle through a storm but I believe in Britain, I believe in the British people and I know that brighter days lie ahead.” The contest to replace Truss was wrapped up surprisingly fast — it was less than a week ago that she resigned. Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party, told LBC radio that Johnson found himself “struggling and begging people for votes. Then she was driven by motorcade to Buckingham Palace, and she resigned in person to the new king, Charles III. The incoming prime minister Sunak followed — and Charles asked him to form a new government. As the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, ‘it is not that things are difficult that we do not dare, it’s because we do not dare, that it is difficult.’ ” She stumbled somewhat over Seneca’s name. “It means lower taxes so people can keep more of the money they earn. “We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently. “From my time as prime minister, I am more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges we face.

Outgoing PM tells successor he should continue cutting taxes and keep planned rise in defence spending.

The outgoing prime minister said she was “more convinced than ever we need to be bold and confront the challenges we face” – saying she still believed in lower taxes and strengthening the nation’s defences. Flanked by her aides and supporters on one side and husband and two children on the other, Truss wished Sunak “every success” before she was whisked away in a car to Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to the king. [Rishi Sunak](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/rishi-sunak), to “be bold” as she laid down the gauntlet by suggesting he should continue cutting taxes and keep the planned rise in defence spending.

Rishi Sunak will face one of the greatest challenges of any new leader when he becomes British prime minister, needing to tackle a mounting economic crisis, ...

Sunak, one of the richest men in parliament, will have to find deep spending cuts to plug an estimated STG40 billion ($A72 billion) hole in the public finances due to an economic slowdown, higher borrowing costs and a six-month program of support for people's energy bills. The 42-year-old former hedge fund boss was asked to form a government by King Charles on Tuesday, and will seek to bring an end to the infighting and feuding at Westminster that has horrified investors and alarmed international allies. Rishi Sunak has become Britain's third prime minister in two months, tasked with tackling a mounting economic crisis, a warring political party and a deeply divided country in one of the greatest challenges to confront any new leader.

Sunak is the first person of colour to take the top post. But he faces a host of problems at home, as well as a Conservative Party tearing itself apart.

The party is behaving like one that has only the slimmest of majorities and is on its way out. Sunak’s premiership may well be a case of the band playing on. This issue has weakened the centre left for a couple of decades. But this may only prolong the pain and defer a significant loss of seats whenever the next election arrives. Now such divisions seem to be affecting the right of politics too. How Sunak manages this coming “ [winter of discontent](https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/43198)” will define his premiership. His legitimacy with the electorate is not as strong as it could be given that he is the third Conservative leader and PM since the last election in 2019. The Conservatives are seen as a party of – and for – the wealthy. It has not lived up to the over-inflated expectations of its most ardent boosters. The cost of living and energy crises will be the foremost political and economic challenges, but the B-word (Brexit) still casts a shadow. This will matter for perceptions of the new PM among the wider electorate. Much of the credit can go to David Cameron’s attempts to modernise the Conservative party in the mid-2000s.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Liz Truss said the country faced "brighter days" as she made her final speech as leader outside her Downing Street office on ...

It is because we do not dare that they are difficult." I believe in the British people. But I believe in Britain.