Editorial | Sunak’s dance with history

With Rishi Sunak’s coronation as prime minister on Tuesday, Britain accomplished two significant feats. It gained its first non-white leader and a semblance of sanity returned to its politics.

Jamaica and its regional partners, however, shouldn’t read too much into the apparent stability and its implications for Anglo-Caribbean relations. For while Boris Johnson, Mr Sunak’s predecessor – but for Liz Truss’ fleeting and disastrous interregnum – was keen to have the Caribbean onside, as part of an ill-defined, post-Brexit Commonwealth coalition, nothing in the new prime minister’s past suggests that he has a perspective of any kind on countries in these parts.

On foreign policy, Mr Sunak’s likely emphasis will be on shoring up Britain’s so-called special relationship with the United States, of which, until relatively recently, he was a green card holder. His attempt to show just how special that relationship is will probably be underpinned with declarations of the UK’s unswerving support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and the maintenance of a muscular policy on China.

Further, Mr Sunak will be distracted by talks with the European Union over the UK’s wish to rewrite, or possibly renounce, the element of its Brexit agreement relating to the movement of goods across the Irish Sea, into Northern Ireland, without having to create a hard border on the island of Ireland.

But Mr Sunak’s greatest focus, by far, will be on rescuing Britain’s tanked economy, while holding his fractious Conservative Party together. In the short term, the latter is likely to be significantly easier than the former.

It is remarkable that a mere 50 days before – the length of Ms Truss’ premiership – the Tory voters, presumably, weren’t ready for Mr Sunak, a wealthy Hindu and former investment banker, who is married to an even wealthier scion of an Indian technology family, and whose parents are professionals from India who emigrated to Britain, where Mr Sunak was born.

A SIGNIFICANT MOVE

While Mr Sunak is Britain’s first prime minister of colour, some suggest that he is not the first minority ethnic to hold the post – that is assuming Benjamin Disraeli, who had two stints in the job (1868 and 1874-1880), can properly be classified as such because he was born into Judaism.

It is significant nonetheless that it is the Tory Party, hardly a bastion for black and brown voters, that produced Britain’s first non-white prime minister, and just before that had, at the same time, non-whites in the three major offices of state after the prime ministership. Ms Truss’ chancellor and finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, was black; James Cleverley (mixed race) was her foreign secretary; and Suella Braverman (Ugandan Asian) was home secretary.

Unfortunately for Ms Truss, race and ethnicity are not determinants of political skills or the ability to formulate or implement good policies. After the implosion of Mr Johnson’s government over the summer, Mr Sunak was favoured by the majority of Tory MPs as his successor. They had misgivings about Ms Truss’ competence as well as her economic policies: lower taxes and higher spending funded by borrowing. The party’s membership, though, voted for Ms Truss.

When in office, Mr Kwarteng delivered the policies. Markets were roiled. Sterling nosedived. Interests spiralled upwards. The Bank of England spent billions of pounds to shore up the currency. These developments exacerbated long-simmering problems in the British economy, which were already worsened by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Things settled after Ms Truss caused Mr Kwarteng to fall on his sword for policies she had promoted and backed. They were reversed. After 45 days in office, Ms Truss announced her resignation because, she said, she couldn’t deliver on the economic programme she promised – and against which she was warned.

‘UNITE OR DIE’

Mr Sunak is now the Tories’ knight in shining armour – their third prime minister this year and fifth in the seven years since David Cameron called the Brexit referendum, expecting a win and hoping that would help him hold his Eurosceptic MPs in line. He lost. Mr Cameron was followed in quick turn by Theresa May, Mr Johnson, Ms Truss, and now by Mr Sunak.

This time, the Tory grandees put sufficient pressure on the parliamentary party, and cleverly engineered the process to avoid, or minimise, the possibility of the leadership question going to the vote of the members, where Mr Sunak’s prospects were uncertain. Additionally, a leadership campaign would put on display, and probably worsen, factional divisions. Further, the party has skirted an early general election in which the Conservatives would probably be decimated.

Tory MPs appreciate that coalescing around Mr Sunak is the best way to buy time to stabilise and give the party a chance when an election happens. Behind closed doors, Mr Sunak implored MPs to “unite or die’’. For now, Britain doesn’t resemble a failing state teetering at the economic brink. Adults appear to have got hold of the levers.

Yet, we won’t hold our breaths for long. Fratricide and regicide may soon break out again. The economic challenges are difficult and Mr Sunak and his chancellor will have tough decisions to make. If they make headway on that front, the factions on Brexit are still there and likely to be harder to appease. Moreover, Mr Sunak can’t claim to have a real mandate – either from his party’s members or the electorate at large. He and the Tories remain vulnerable.

There couldn’t be a more difficult time for Britain’s first prime minister of colour to take the helm. How he handles the job will echo long into history.