Rishi Sunak took over as Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday and will begin assembling his cabinet, after a comeback victory that doubled as a historical milestone, making him the first person of color to occupy the country’s highest political office.
The 42-year-old son of Indian immigrants, Mr. Sunak won the Conservative Party contest to replace his short-lived predecessor as prime minister, Liz Truss. Now, in the biggest role of a political career that has already had its ups and downs, Mr. Sunak confronts the twin challenge of reunifying his fractured party and navigating Britain through its gravest economic crisis in a generation.
A former chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Sunak is expected to pull Britain back to more mainstream policies after Ms. Truss’s failed experiment in trickle-down economics, which rattled financial markets and badly damaged Britain’s fiscal reputation. He is also likely to settle British politics somewhat after the relentless turbulence of Ms. Truss’s scandal-scarred predecessor, Boris Johnson.
But Britain’s straitened public finances and higher borrowing costs will require painful spending cuts, testing the political skills of Mr. Sunak, who found it hard to sell his tough-love message to party members in a previous leadership campaign during the summer.
Here’s what else to know about Britain’s political transition:
In her departing public remarks as Britain’s leader, Ms. Truss took credit for protecting people from rising energy bills and diversifying Britain’s sources of energy. She also reiterated her free-market beliefs in lower taxes and a faster-growing economy for Britain, and said, “I know that brighter days lie ahead.”
Mr. Sunak gave few specifics about his policies and plans during the chaotic three-day race for leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, beyond promising to unite the country and fix the economy. His actions on Tuesday may be some of the first indications of how he will lead Britain out of one of its most troubled political moments.
In his first public remarks as prime minister, Mr. Sunak promised a government of “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.” He added, in the speech outside 10 Downing Street, “Trust is earned, and I will earn yours.”
Besides becoming the first person of color to be Britain’s leader, Mr. Sunak will be its youngest prime minister in at least 200 years, although not by a large margin — David Cameron and Tony Blair were both 43 when they took office.
Rishi Sunak’s first speech as prime minister
didn’t give away any details about how exactly he plans to tackle Britain’s
economic woes. He did offer a reminder of his period as chancellor, saying that
during the pandemic he did everything he could to protect people and
businesses, including introducing the furlough program, which made him popular.
But he made it clear that this time support won’t be as generous. “There are
always limits,” he said. “More so now than ever.”
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