By Vishnu Bisram
A FEW years ago, it was unimaginable that a non-Anglo Saxon could become the PM (although Jewish Benjamin Disraeli served as PM during the 1870s for six years) of the UK. This is not dissimilar in the thought that a multi-racial or Black person could become President of the USA. Barack Obama of an African Kenyan father and an Irish-American mother was elected President in 2008, serving the maximum two terms. And now, a British-born Indian, Rishi Sunak, whose Indian parents are from Africa, was selected by parliamentary colleagues to be the PM of the UK. Both countries were in dire financial straits when non-Whites sought office to rescue them. Obama’s eight-year tenure was not rated as a major success. Will Sunak be successful?

Obama faced a lot of economic challenges and in uniting the Democratic Party and country when he ascended to office. And likewise, Sunak now faces a lot of economic and political issues, worse in the UK than Obama faced in the US in 2008, as well as uniting his Conservative Party and the UK. Will Sunak be undermined? Are political knives out to stab him in the back, ending his political career?

As non-Whites in the US did in 2008 when Obama was elected, non-Whites in the UK and around the globe, Indians in particular, are very pleased and cheerful to have a person of colour as head of the British government. Indians in the diaspora are very proud of the achievement of an Indian rising to the highest political office based on diaspora reactions received from early Monday thru now and from published reports in the global press. This writer received dozens of messages praising the appointment from Indian Trinis, Guyanese, and nationals from the UK and India. In addition, many who conversed on the phone and in person at Diwali celebrations expressed pride that someone from their ethnicity has risen to the highest elected position in Britain, not dissimilar to the election of Kamala Harris as Vice-President of the US; Kamala’s mother is a South Indian.

Kamala celebrated Diwali at her official VP residence. Sunak’s selection as PM on Monday was viewed and described as a Diwali gift for Hindus who celebrated Diwali on that day, October 24. Indians, South Asians, and non-Anglos in general welcome the breakthrough as they felt it would help them to seek the highest elective office in the UK that was heretofore restricted to only Anglo Saxons. When Obama was elected in 2008, Indians and other non-Whites hailed it as an opening for them to become President. Similarly, when Kamala was elected as VP in 2020, it was a breakthrough for a woman and a multi-racial person (mother Indian and father of Black and White ancestry) to rise to the second highest elective position in America. Ever since Sunak was chosen as leader of the party on Monday and sworn in on Tuesday as PM, Indians everywhere expressed pride in this achievement and development. This development dominated social media and world news.

In order for Sunak to be considered a role model and pave the way for other non-Whites to rise to the prime ministerial position, he must succeed in turning around the British economy. It is a gargantuan task. Is he up to the task? He is a brilliant economist, financial manager, and political scientist. He saved the economy during the height of the COVID crisis. Many say he can do it again.

Several people asked a pertinent question: will his two immediate predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson seek to undermine his policies and conspire to topple him? Johnson made it known that he rejects Sunak. Johnson is planning a comeback. He tried to regain the prime ministerial (PM) position on Sunday but failed miserably by Monday to get the required 100 votes to put up his candidacy against Sunak. Johnson has made his anger against Sunak known, saying Sunak’s resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequer that occurred amidst growing scandals against Johnson, triggered a collapse of his government. Johnson was forced to resign as PM. Sunak was seen as the political assassin of Johnson. Johnson, who once described Sunak as a potential successor to him, blamed Sunak for his fall from the PM position. Johnson vowed never to support Sunak for PM, and endorsed Liz Truss as his successor. He entered the race Sunday to block Sunak from winning the leadership contest. Johnson mustered 62 MPs to back him as against 197 for Sunak and 27 for Penny Mordaunt. Another female MP of African ancestry also pulled out after not making a showing.

When Sunak lost the leadership race to Truss, he made it known that he would not serve in the Cabinet. Sunak said he had different economic and political philosophies from Truss and as such could not serve in the Cabinet. Truss’s economic policy roiled the economy, triggering opposition from colleagues.

Sunak entered into a race for leadership of the Conservatives after Truss resigned. The Conservative MPs in the UK Parliament on Monday chose Sunak as leader of their party, a title that comes with the PM position. Sunak, 42, becomes Britain’s first non-white prime minister. Both of his parents were born in East Africa. They were unwelcomed in Africa and migrated to Britain where they started a pharmaceutical business that was very successful. Indians were expelled from Uganda and several other African countries even though they were born there. Sunak did extremely well in his education, attending the most prestigious public school and university (Oxford) in the UK. He also obtained a MBA at Stanford in the USA and ran big funds.

He was sworn in on Tuesday and was asked by King Charles to form a government. It is ironic that Britain, which governed India for 200 years with an iron fist and impoverished India, will now have a PM of Indian descent, hoping he would rescue it from economic troubles. That individual is the descendant of Indians who went abroad as migrant labourers. Britain sent some two million Indians abroad, including to the Caribbean and Africa as indentured labourers or slaves. Several have risen to high positions and Sunak is among descendants of migrant labourers who has become PM.

It is noteworthy also that at independence in 1947, Winston Churchill said Indians were not capable of governing themselves. The UK had four PM in four years. Are prejudicial Anglos up to the job? India has been doing quite well since the British left in 1947, moving from an impoverished nation with a very small economy to the fifth largest in the world, bettering England’s. India has had a stable government and a strong leader in Narendra Modi since 2014, who has handled India’s economy well.

The UK has turned to an ethnic Indian to rescue her economy. Will he get the support from colleagues?