Rishi Sunak's UK election campaign showed his lack of political sensitivity

LONDON — Rishi Sunak's campaign to remain British prime minister has shown a lack of political sensitivity.

The Conservative Party's problems were already serious before Friday's election. resounding electoral defeat But missteps by Britain's richest prime minister contributed to his defeat.

Predecessors such as Tony Blair And Boris Johnson The Conservatives were more politically astute and able to connect with voters. As for Sunak, he did not have to call an election until January 2025. He defied political advice by doing so in May, as Conservative support steadily declined due to an economic crisis, ethics scandals and a revolving door of leaders over the past two years. announced the date of July 4th in the pouring rain.

Moreover, the Conservative Party does not seem ready for the campaign compared to the Labour Party, and voters have not really felt concerned. the improvement of the British economy Again.

“I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss,” Sunak said in his final speech as prime minister outside the residence at 10 Downing St.

Perhaps Sunak's biggest mistake, the one that prompted him to apologise and which many analysts say spelled the end of the Conservative Party's campaign, was his decision to Leave early for the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Landing in northern France on June 6.

Critics said the decision not to attend the international event that closed the commemorations was disrespectful to veterans and diminished the UK's international reputation. Other world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were all in attendance. Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Born in 1980 in Southampton on the south coast of England to parents of Indian origin, Sunak became the first British leader of colour and the first Hindu to become prime minister. At 42, he was the youngest British leader in more than 200 years.

A former hedge fund manager at Goldman Sachs and married to a woman from a family of Indian billionaires, Sunak rose quickly through the ranks of the Conservatives. Now 44, he became Treasury chief on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic. Within weeks, he had to unveil the largest economic support package of any chancellor outside of war, a plan that many saw as a way to save millions of jobs.

Despite the high spending on the programme, Sunak, who has long advocated low taxes and small government, idolised former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Wise, confident and at ease with the advance of modern technology, Sunak earned the nickname Dishy Rishi and quickly became one of the most trusted and popular faces of the Johnson administration during the rigours of the pandemic.

Johnson was forced to resign in the summer of 2022, after being tried for lying to Parliament about breaches of coronavirus lockdown measures in his Downing Street offices. As if that were not enough, trust in the Conservatives was further undermined when his successor Liz Truss backed a package of unfunded tax cuts that financial markets disrupted and pushed up borrowing costs, especially for homeowners already struggling with the most acute cost of living crisis in decades. His premiership was the shortest in British history

When Sunak replaced Truss, he presented himself as a stable figure. He constantly reminded voters that he had warned Conservative Party members about the recklessness of Truss’s economic plan when he challenged her to succeed Johnson. On the day he replaced Truss after her traumatic 49-day tenure as prime minister in October 2022, the Conservatives were trailing Labour by about 30 percentage points.

As Treasury chief, Sunak was praised for implementing his COVID-19 job retention plan, which arguably saved millions of jobs. But it came at a cost, pushing the country’s tax burden to its highest level since the 1940s.

During his 21 months as prime minister, Sunak has struggled to contain divisions within his Conservative party. Some wanted him to be tougher on immigration and bolder in cutting taxes, while others urged him to move more to the centre of politics, where British elections are historically won.

In his concession speech, Sunak said he would serve a full term in parliament until 2029 and remain leader of the Conservative Party until the Conservative Party had elected a successor.

“It is important that after 14 years in power, the Conservative Party rebuilds itself, but also that it assumes its crucial role in opposition in a professional and effective manner,” he said.

Many believe he might be tempted to return to the United States in the coming years, perhaps to pursue his interest in artificial technology.

After his schooling at Winchester College, one of Britain’s most expensive boarding schools, Sunak went to Oxford University to study politics, philosophy and economics, the degrees of choice for future prime ministers. He then earned an MBA from Stanford University, which proved to be a springboard for his later career as a hedge fund manager at Goldman Sachs in the US.

It was there that he met his wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of the billionaire founder of Indian tech giant Infosys. They have two daughters. The couple are the richest residents of 10 Downing Street to date, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2024, with an estimated fortune of £651 million ($815 million). They are even richer than King Charles III, a level of wealth that many say has left him disconnected from the day-to-day problems of most people.

With his wealth, Sunak was elected to Parliament for the Conservative constituency of Richmond in Yorkshire in 2015. In the 2016 UK referendum on Brexit, he supported leaving the European Union, an exit that came unexpectedly and which many Britons now regret.