The Rise of Rishi Sunak To the highest position in British politics is remarkable.
Just seven weeks ago, he was thoroughly beaten by Liz Truss in a Conservative Party leadership contest. Today, after winning a leadership contest that was quickly tracked out of the wreckage of her brief premiership, he is just an audience with King Charles III away from Downing Street.
The man who held the position Finance Minister Boris Johnson For two and a half years, only to resign and bring down the Johnson government, she now faces the unenviable task of picking out a reluctant nation after a disastrous period of Truss.
It is fair to assume that he will do so by implementing the economic plan he outlined during his failed leadership bid earlier this year. Sunak has criticized Truss’ plans to cut taxes and fund daily spending through borrowing, saying it would lead to economic ruin.
He was proven right when the Truss government implemented its plans in a “mini-budget”, causing the pound to fall to its lowest level in decades and the collapse of bond prices, driving up borrowing costs and pushing pension funds to the brink of bankruptcy.
As Sunak also predicted, higher interest rates drove up mortgage payments, and lenders rushed to withdraw their products from the market, shattering the hopes of many potential homeowners almost overnight.
Britain’s international reputation had already been damaged before Truss took office. The endless scandals that eventually forced Johnson to step down, as well as his repeated threats to break international law over the Brexit deal he personally agreed to with the European Union, have not made world leaders tilt so well toward the UK.
Sunak’s joining can be directly attributed to the chaos of the past few months. He is seen as a pair of safe hands, having won widespread praise for his handling of the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, helping businesses and citizens with big government spending programs that have saved many livelihoods. His job is now clear: to bring calm.
Unfortunately for Sunack, he has inherited a political party that has spent the past few years tearing bits apart. The Conservative Party of 2022 is defined by divisions and split loyalties making it uncontrollable for both Johnson and Truss.
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