Rishi Sunak will become Britain's new prime minister after being elected leader of the Conservative Party yesterday and tasked with leading a deeply divided country through an economic crisis that will impoverish millions of citizens.
One of the richest politicians in Westminster, Sunak will become the first non-white prime minister - and the third prime minister in less than two months when he takes office during one of the most turbulent periods in British political history.
He will replace Liz Truss, who spent just 44 days in office as prime minister, and try to restore stability after years of turmoil and economic crisis and try to lead a party that is divided along ideological lines.
He told the parliament members that they were facing an "existential crisis" and that they had to "unite or die".
"Now we need stability and unity, and the unification of the party and the country will be my highest priority," he said.
Sunak, a millionaire and former hedge fund boss, is expected to unveil a program of deep spending cuts to restore Britain's fiscal reputation. Sunak, who is due to be named prime minister today by King Charles, will also have to work hard to keep Britain's dominant political party together after some accused him of betrayal earlier this year when he resigned from former leader Boris Johnson's cabinet, which led to his downfall.
Other conservatives argue that he is too rich to understand the everyday economic pressures that British citizens are exposed to, and the question is whether he could bring an election victory to the party that has been in power for 12 years.
"I think this decision sinks us as a party for the next election," a member of the Conservative Party, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
Historian and political biographer Anthony Seldon told Reuters that Sunak inherited the most difficult economic and political situation since World War II, and that he will be limited by the mistakes made by his predecessor, Liz Truss.
"He has no freedom to be anything but extremely conservative and cautious," Seldon told the British agency. However, he added that during the mandate of the Minister of Finance during the pandemic, Sunak showed that he is capable of winning trust during difficult times.
Polls show the British people want an election, but the Conservatives don't have to hold it until January 2025.
Angela Reynar, the deputy leader of the opposition Labor Party, announced that the conservatives "crowned Rishi Sunak as prime minister without him saying a single word about how he would govern the country and that nobody got a chance to vote."
Sunak, who was born in Southampton in 1980, rose rapidly in the Conservative Party and in 2020 became one of the youngest finance ministers. His family emigrated from India to Britain in the 1960s, when many from former British colonies came to the country to help rebuild it after World War II.
He had a privileged education - he attended elite expensive schools and is another in a line of prime ministers who studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University, after David Cameron and Liz Truss.
After graduating from Oxford, he enrolled at Stanford University where he met his wife Akshata Marti, whose father is Indian billionaire NR Narayana Marti, founder of the giant Infosis Ltd.
In April, Sunak's wife was forced to confirm reports that her non-domiciled status allowed her to avoid paying tax on her international earnings, which she later changed.
Among numerous messages of support, Sunak also received the "warmest congratulations" from Indian leader Narendra Modi yesterday.
European officials welcomed Sunak's election as prime minister, and European Council President Charles Michel announced on Twitter that "joint cooperation is the only way to face common challenges... and stability is the key to overcoming them."
Grog Rickels from the European Political Center in Brussels and a former member of the EU's negotiating team for Brexit said that the bloc indicated long ago that it was ready to compromise, but that it encountered a cold reaction from the hardliners Johnson and Trasova.
"The opportunity to reset the relationship is clearly here," he told Reuters. "Now times are difficult across Europe... When he is in Downing Street, Sunak will have plenty of reasons for constructive cooperation with the EU".
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