It is great that Britain has a person of colour as Prime Minister.

I don't like Rishi Sunak's politics at all but the fact that his ethnicity wasn't a barrier to him getting to the top is a good thing. I can't think of any major European country that has ever had a non-white leader. If you can, let me know in the comments.

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Northwest · M

I also thought that we crossed a bridge, and burnt it when we got to the other side, when President Obama was elected.

In fact, the net effect, was the awakening of deeply rooted racism, that manifested itself in the "Tea Party", and eventually Donald Trump.

Wait until you get someone in the UK, asking for the guy's "real" birth certificate.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Northwest I think that the dynamics are a little different here. It helps Sunak that he is a Conservative and also that other Conservative politicians have failed so badly.

The far--right (from Farage to Tommy Robinson) could make a deal of this using coded language. Calling him a 'globalist' or 'anti-British,' etc.

In his first leadership challenge, Sunak released an awkward video that tried to triangulate his own immigrant' family's aspirational dream with being tough on immigration. My sense is that he is personally a classical liberal but also a cynical political pragmatist. He is an internationalist whose support for Brexit helped his career. He was promoted by Johnson and later turned against him.

So I expect him to do plenty of migrant bashing if he gets in trouble. He's also going to be cutting a lot of public services and be very anti-union. I mean it when I say I don't like his politics. It's both a good and bad thing that he is far more competent than Truss.

Northwest · M

@Burnley123 I was being sarcastic about the tea party, but I think that the blue bloods are having a coronary. And I don't mean the royals.

Not sure why everyone thinks he's loaded. Sure, he had a bit of money, but the real money came from daddy-in-law, so his economic acumen is "marry into a very rich Indian family, whose patriarch is looking for the proper son-in-law", adding him to the list of people who have not done much to earn what they have. So, his policies will be detached from the reality of the common people.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Northwest To give Sunak his due, he did have a successful career in the city. Though obviously most of his wealth he married into, as you say.

When he was first appointed Chancellor three years ago, he was a no name. Johnson got rid of Sajid Javid because of policy disagreements and appointed Sunak thinking that he would be easy to control. Sunak's standing rose because he proved a competent chancellor and also a superb networker and self-publicist. Irony of ironies, he was the one to move against Boris and bring him down. If Johnson had got on the ballot, the aggro would have been entertaining.

Sunak is trusted by Tory MPs so they clearly trust him as the most competent of potential option. He is however, a lot more rightwing and a lot more cynical than a lot of Brits think.

Northwest · M

@Burnley123 Anyone who gets a thumbs up from daddy, is suspect in my mind, given what I know about InfoSys.