United Kingdom: Sunak is Prime Minister. Longley (analyst), “lots of challenges to overcome”. Is an election on the horizon?

“To have harmonious relations among the different ethnic minorities, it’s very important that there is a non-white Prime Minister at last”. This is how Clifford Longley, Catholic commentator for the BBC and former religious correspondent of the “Times” and the “Daily Telegraph”, commented the election of 42-year-old Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party and as Prime Minister, the first Indian Prime Minister in the history of the United Kingdom. “It’s remarkable that the Conservative Party achieved such result instead of the Labour Party. It’s a step closer to that global society in which different races live peacefully together, which we all wish. What’s most remarkable is not so much that Sunak is Indian, because his family comes in fact from Africa, but that he is Hindi, which means he has a set of values that is alternative and a minority compared with the rest of the country. I think it is a point of honour for our country that we can have a Prime Minister that belongs to an ethnic minority, even if part of the Conservative Party had preferred Liz Truss over him just because they did not want to have an Indian leader – Longley added –, and in this we can set an example for the rest of Europe”. According to the expert, there is a 50% probability for Great Britain to hold a general election, because “Rishi Sunak has so many challenges to overcome that some of them may be insurmountable”. “Most Britons are ashamed of the aggression and quarrels in Westminster and the deterioration of politics caused by Conservatives – Longley concludes – and with Rishi Sunak, who will be a smart, sensible, moderate Prime Minister, I hope we can leave behind the undignified show of the last few days”.
Silvia Guzzetti