Daily Times

Rishi Sunak made history as Britain’s first Asian prime minister on the 24th of this month; the newly nominated head of state has ancestry ranging from East Africa to India and even claims that he is a practising Hindu. Mr Sunak’s ascent to power was by no means conventional; he was nominated by Parliament after his predecessor Liz Truss crumpled under the pressure and swiftly resigned.

Despite this, he has quickly been heralded as the face of a new, inclusive Britain, with only a few questioning whether his Indian heritage is being given too much credit. Make no mistake, Mr Sunak isn’t here to protect minority interests; as the leader of the conservative party, his real priority is to safeguard the wealthy industrialists he grew up around.

Before becoming an MP, Rishi worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for 14 years. Investment banking doesn’t require any considerations of the bigger picture; the primary objective is to generate profits and manage one’s assets regardless of the consequences it may have for the economy or even employees.

It is not surprising then that Mr Sunak joined the Tories whose leadership has caused the rich to get ever so much richer. His party must take some, if not most of the responsibility for the widening income inequality, unemployment and absurdly high costs of living that are observed in Britain today. Indeed, a leaked video shows a smug Rishi joking about taking money from deprived areas and funnelling it into Conservative constituencies.

In the past, the new prime minister has voted against paying disability benefits to those who cannot work and has taken a firm stance against higher taxes on banks and policies to reduce tax avoidance. He is not an appropriate figurehead for diverse Britain that many hopefuls long for; after all, his closest allies belong to the Tory party which has a reputation for racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Britain is currently knee-deep in an energy crisis that will affect low-income households the most. Faced with rising inflation and higher costs of living, many have been forced to reduce energy use and cut back on essentials such as food. Ethnic minorities, such as Pakistanis and Indians are bearing the brunt of the crisis; even those performing high managerial professions worry that the recession will wipe them clean of their savings. *