Rishi Sunak, new leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Rishi Sunak He will be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This Monday he has become the new leader of the Conservative Party -the fifth in six years- on the fast track, without the need for primaries. This Sunday, who could be his biggest threat, Boris Johnsonrefused to appear and Penny Mordauntnumber one tory in the House of Commons, it has not obtained the endorsements. Sunak succeeds Liz Trussthe premiere shorter.

Strategy or conviction, Sunak was the first conservative who publicly predicted the failure of Truss, embracing the tax cut. He went toe-to-toe in July for the party’s leadership. Sunak recalled the facility of his ‘colleague’ and his opponent to say one thing today and the opposite tomorrow – the case of ‘Brexit’ – and warned: “The lights of the economy are flashing red (…) and your recipe will get worse the situation”.

[De David Cameron a Liz Truss: cómo Reino Unido está pagando el populismo del Brexit]

Sunak, 42, considered his election essential “so that the next generation of Britons has more opportunities than the previous one.” In a one-sided declaration of intent, the leader builds his commitments on the Achilles heel of his predecessors, without citing them: he says he has “a clear plan” to “fix the economy” (Truss) and promises “integrity” (Johnson ).

integrity and stability

The profiles on Sunak in fact point to integrity as the aspect most in question. He dumped Johnson for his “lack of seriousness” and asserting that “conduct matters,” but he had participated in at least one of the parties that cost Johnson his job. Also, his wife, the billionaire Akshata Murtyhad been under the UK non-resident tax regime for years.

The latter is a more than controversial fact that did not go unnoticed by public opinion beyond Murty’s fortune or the fact that he has lived for many years in London, among other properties in the United Kingdom: at the time the information or her husband criticized the exemplarity of the prime minister, they lived at 11 Downing Street and Sunak was the head of the Treasury.

Analysts attributed part of his defeat against Truss precisely to the opportunism detected among the conservatives, who did not brand him a “traitor”: with his resignation and singling out, he was one of Johnson’s executioners when he was the one who gave him his greatest opportunity and responsibility politics, and everything, they accused, to later launch their candidacy to succeed him.

“Difficult decisions”

Former Secretary of the Treasury, Sunak was an analyst at Goldman Sachs and like Truss is an admirer of the doctrine of Margaret ThatcherBut not at any price or in all circumstances. Not in the current one, she defends. Sunak advocates lowering taxes in the medium term, not immediately. Before, he values, it is necessary to correct what is urgent, at this moment inflation, with a historical rise in the price of energy.

[Polémica en Reino Unido: Truss recibirá una pensión vitalicia de 131.675 € al año por 45 días como ‘premier’]

Raised in the city of Southampton (south), Sunak, of Hindu religion, is the grandson of immigrants from the Indian region of Punjab, who arrived in the country in the 1960s. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford. This Tuesday he will visit Charles III and he will announce his government, which he hopes will put an end to political instability, calm the markets and the citizens and reach the next elections.

In the last hours, Sunak has received relevant support, that of the Minister of Economy, Jeremy Huntwhich dismantled the Truss plan: “Our public finances, market credibility and international reputation have been dealt a serious blow. To restore them, we need a leader who can be trusted to make difficult decisions. Also someone who can explain it to the citizens concerned about jobs, mortgages or public services. We have a leader who can do that and that is Rishi Sunak, Hunt told The Daily Telegraph.