British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Hello, friends!
24th October 2022,
On Diwali, British Conservative Party's Rishi Sunak was declared the new Prime Minister of the UK. Pay attention to the word 'declared'. He did not win the election. Instead, he was chosen by his party as the new Prime Minister.
The previous Prime Minister of the UK was Liz Truss, she resigned after being in office for 44 days.
Before her, the Prime Minister was Boris Johnson,
The UK had three Prime Ministers in a span of 2 months.
Why?
Why are the Prime Ministers changing so quickly?
What are the economic and political crises in the United Kingdom?
Come, let's understand this in this article.
"Rishi Sunak is the first person of color ever,
to lead the Government."
Who is Rishi Sunak?
Rishi Sunak is to be Britain's next Prime Minister.
Rishi Sunak will become this country's first-ever Prime Minister of Colour.
"It is the greatest privilege of my life,
to be able to serve the party I love." was the opening statement of Rushi Sunak in his maiden speech after being declared as the Prime Minister of the UK.
Friends, our story actually begins in 2019.
The year Indian Lok Sabha Elections were held,
the same year, General Elections were held in the UK as well.
This election was being contested by two main political parties.
Their Conservative Party,
also known as the Tories.
And the Labour Party.
The Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson,
And the Labour Party was led by Jeremy Corbyn.
This election was won by the Conservative Party with a full majority.
There are 650 seats in total in the House of Commons.
It's the equivalent of the Lok Sabha.
Similar to the 543 seats in our Lok Sabha, for 543 MPs,
They have a total of 650 seats with the majority mark being 326 seats.
In this election, the Conservative Party won 365 seats,
And the Labour Party was at 202 seats.
As the result, Boris Johnson became the new Prime Minister of the UK.
So why did Boris Johnson have to resign 3 years later?
There were several reasons for that.
But simply speaking, Boris Johnson had lost the confidence
of the public as well as his party.
His controversies began in November 2021.
In November 2021,
an MP of his party Owen Paterson
was suspended for breaking the rules for Lobbying.
To prevent that suspension, Boris whipped his party members.
The whip system is basically a way
to discipline party members.
So that if something is being put to the vote,
it ensures that every member of the party votes for what the party wants.
*You better vote the way we want you to,
or there's gonna be big trouble.*
This system exists in India as well.
You might have heard that
some important bill was presented in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha,
so a whip is enforced.
To the public, it was pretty questionable,
they wondered why Boris Johnson wanted to protect a corrupt person.
This was the first allegation against Boris Johnson.
The second allegation was on 30th November 2021
When the first report on the Partygate Scandal was published.
This report shows that a staff working at the Prime Minister's Office
was partying, and holding gatherings,
while the rest of London was in lockdown.
While people weren't allowed to leave their homes,
People were asked to remain at their homes, and not meet people,
and the people working at the Prime Minister's Office were partying.
This was named the Partygate.
On 7th December 2021,
there was a new development in the Partygate Scandal.
A video clip emerged in the media,
in which the Press Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office,
Allegra Stratton
was mocking these parties in the videos.
This leaked video pressured her to resign from her position.
In the meanwhile, a third blow hits Boris Johnson,
in the Wallpapergate Controversy.
The Election Commission of the UK,
fined the Conservative Party £17,800.
Why were they fined?
Because when Prime Minister Boris Johnson,
renovated the residence of the Prime Minister,
he did not declare the donations he had received.
The total bill to renovate the Prime Minister's residence was £200,000.
But the public grant for this was only £30,000.
On 10th January 2022,
a new development was revealed in the Partygate Scandal.
Boris Johnson's private secretary,
Martin Reynolds' email was leaked.
"An email proves that Downing Street staff
held a party at the height of the lockdown."
This email revealed that 100 people were invited
to a party at the Prime Minister's residence.
While the country was in lockdown.
It was later revealed that Boris Johnson attended this party too.
This story was run by the media,
and Boris Johnson was pressed to answer.
Boris Johnson apologized to the public saying that
he presumed that it wasn't a party,
thinking it to be a work event.
"I believed implicitly that this was
a work event.
And I should have recognized that
even if it could be said technically to fall
within the guidance,
there would be millions and millions of people
who simply would not see it that way
and to them,
and to this House,
The MPs of the opposition party,
accused him of lying.
they demanded his resignation.
Interestingly, some of the politicians of the conservative party
did not believe Boris Johnson.
Troubled by it, and for the values they held,
some MPs of the Conservative Party changed their party.
Such as MP Christian Wakeford.
Switched to the Labour Party on 19th January.
Friends, it is noteworthy to see how,
in the UK, the Election Commission acts courageously and independently
against the party and fines them for their wrongdoings,
and the media is given the freedom to expose scandals.
Additionally, their police conducted an independent investigation
into the Partygate Scandal.
In April 2022,
after their investigation, the Metropolitan Police fined
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak,
for attending Boris Johnson's birthday party,
while the country was in lockdown.
Can you imagine something like this happening in India?
The police fined the politicians of the ruling party.
Unfortunately, in India, the police
danced to the tune of the ruling party in each state.
I mentioned Rishi Sunak here because
Rishi Sunak was the Finance Minister while Boris Johnson was the PM.
As if these scandals weren't enough, on 25th May 2022,
another blow was dealt.
A new full report on the Partygate Scandal was published
by the Civil Servant Sue Gray.
This report mentions that
in the office and residence of the Prime Minister,
multiple parties were held.
"In the end, around 30 to 40 people attended
including Boris Johnson,
Then there was this event, on the Prime Minister's birthday
for which he is now being fined."
In these parties, the politicians got so drunk
that they started causing a ruckus and getting into fights
with the security and cleaning staff.
"One in June 2020,
the then head of ethics in the Cabinet Office, Helen MacNamara
brought a karaoke machine."
By June, Boris Johnson's reputation among the people took a nosedive.
The leaders of his party were taking back their support as well.
There was a Confidence Vote
in which 41% of the MPs of the Conservative Party
voted in favor of dismissing Boris Johnson.
It was embarrassing
when 41% of the MPs of his party did not support him.
Even so, Boris Johnson remained in the PM's office,
he continued his position.
Another blow was dealt to Boris then.
The new Deputy chief appointed by him, Chris Pincher
was revealed to have sexually assaulted two people.
Out of embarrassment, he resigned on June 30th.
When Boris Johnson was questioned about this,
he claimed to know nothing about the allegations.
But in further investigation by the media, it was revealed that
Boris Johnson was aware of these allegations since 2019.
When this news broke,
the ministers of the Boris Johnson government,
lost their patience.
They had had enough.
As long as Boris Johnson remained the Prime Minister,
they said that they wouldn't continue.
They did not want such a Prime Minister.
Rishi Sunak resigned from the post of Finance Minister.
Sajid Javid resigned from the post of Health Secretary.
Over the next 24 hours, 36 MPs
resigned from their roles in the government.
By this point in time, in total, 62 MPs had resigned.
If there is no one to run the government
how can it go on?
Left with no choice, on 7th July
Boris Johnson had to resign as well.
He resigned from the post of Prime Minister.
"I want to say to the millions of people,
who voted for us in 2019,
Thank you, for that incredible mandate."
This is where Liz Truss enters our story.
September 2022, a difficult time for Britain,
Queen Elizabeth passed away.
Inflation was out of control due to the war in Ukraine,
an economic crisis in the country due to Brexit.
The reputation of the party was in danger.
Scotland was threatening to conduct a referendum.
It might break apart from the UK.
Most of the problems faced by the UK now
is actually credited to the 2016 Brexit.
Brexit was basically a decision
when the UK decided that it would no longer be a part of the European Union.
"The other major story tonight,
the global aftershocks after the vote in Britain.
And for so many around the world, a stunning result,
deciding to leave the European Union to go at it alone."
It was a controversial decision
because of the widespread propaganda in favor of Brexit.
There were false claims.
I discussed them in detail here.
First of all, social media scandals came up
about how people were brainwashed into voting for Brexit.
It was promised that the roaming charges for the UK would not increase after Brexit.
But they did.
People were promised cheaper food after Brexit.
But the food prices increased.
Fisheries were a major issue in Brexit.
90% of the people working in the fisheries sector,
voted in favor of Brexit.
But after the trade connection with the EU fell apart,
their fisheries collapsed.
Most of the people who voted in favor of Brexit,
regret it [today.
But anyway, coming back to our story,
after Boris Johnson's resignation,
Conservative Party held elections to choose the new PM.
The procedure is basically that
the new leader needs to come up with the support of 100 MPs,
if they get 100 MPs to support them,
the party chooses among the members with the required support
where the party members vote to choose their leader.
In July 2022, after Boris' resignation
two leaders emerged.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
The Tories held online voting among the party members,
and Liz Truss won with 57% votes.
And so Liz Truss became the next Prime Minister of the UK in September.
Due to so many crises,
Liz Truss had to shoulder many responsibilities.
She presented a new plan on 23rd September.
Promising to revive UK's economy.
She released a huge package with tax cuts.
Tax cuts that were unprecedented in the last 50 years,
were announced by her.
The idea was to use trickle-down economics.
That by giving tax cuts to the rich,
the benefits would eventually trickle down and reach the commoners.
This idea was a flop.
By this point in time, everyone knows,
that trickle-down economics doesn't work so.
As soon as she announced this plan,
the value of the British Pound,
fell down drastically.
It reached an all-time low.
The interest rates went up.
The IMF told the UK's government
to re-evaluate their plan.
While announcing her plan, Liz Truss
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, was by her side.
On 14th October, she laid the blame entirely on Kwasi Kwarteng.
And he was removed from his position.
The next Chancellor was Jeremy Hunt.
The previous Foreign Secretary.
As soon as he became the Chancellor
he rolled back everything promised by Liz Truss.
People were of the opinion that Jeremy Hunt was the one running the country.
There were conflicts between Jeremy Hunt and Liz Truss.
Liz Truss' image took a hard fall among the public and her party members.
In the opinion polls regarding this,
only 10% of people actually approved of Liz Truss' leadership.
80% of people had an unfavorable view of this.
This rating was so bad
that when Boris Johnson resigned,
his ratings were still better.
She became the least popular Prime Minister in UK's history.
55% of the members of her party demanded
that Liz Truss be removed from the position.
On 19th October,
there was a loud and chaotic Parliament Session,
"The country's got nothing to show for it,
except for the destruction of the economy,
and of the implosion of the Tory Party.
I've got the list here,
45p tax cut, gone.
The corporation tax cut, gone.
20p tax cut, gone.
They're all gone.
So why is she still here?"
After this, the next day on 20th October,
Liz Truss was forced to resign.
What happened in this Parliament Session?
On 19th October, the Labour Party
wished to introduce a new law in Parliament.
The law ban Fracking.
Fracking is a way to get oil from the ground
that is largely criticized.
Because it leads to groundwater poisoning.
It increases water pollution levels
and has a terrible impact on the environment, overall.
This is an environmental issue.
The Labour Party wanted to pass the law
to completely ban Fracking in the UK.
The Conservative Party not only looked at the environmental perspective of this bill,
but also that if the Labour Party got a lot of votes on the bill,
it could be disastrous for the image of their party.
They couldn't afford to lose the vote.
Because that would make it seem as if
the Parliament did not have any confidence in their party.
They did not want their party to lose its position.
So a whip was issued by the Conservative Party
that all MPs of the Conservative Party
have to vote against the law.
It was a 100% hard, 3-line whip.
A 3-line whip is for the most important whips.
It was so important that it needed to be highlighted thrice.
At the end of the debate, the Minister of Climate Change announced
that the motion of Fracking will not be treated as a Confidence Vote.
This causes an uproar among the MPs of the Conservative Party.
They claim that they ignored the environment
and voted against the bill so that they could protect their party.
And now that the vote wasn't treated as a Confidence Motion,
they were free to vote for what they believed in.
Amidst this chaos and confusion
several politicians of the Conservative Party were angry,
because they were allegedly manhandled and bullied
to vote according to Liz Truss' wishes.
"As you know, members are expected to be able to vote without fear or favor.
And the behavior code, which is agreed upon by the whole House
says that there shall never be
bullying or harassment of members.
I saw members,
being physically manhandled into another lobby.
And being bullied."
After this Parliament Session,
the Home Secretary of Liz Truss resigned.
And Liz Truss had no other choice than to resign.
The Conservative Party knew
that if General Elections are held now,
the chances of their party winning in next to impossible.
Because their image among the people is so low,
scandals one after another,
no proper leader in the party,
and a new Prime Minister is chosen every few days,
the people may choose to vote for the other party.
After Liz Truss' resignation,
it was time to choose the next Prime Minister.
The leaders had to collect the approval of at least 100 MPs.
Rishi Sunak was the first to cross the mark of 100 MPs.
It was expected that Boris Johnson would stand to be reelected.
But he couldn't cross the 100 MPs mark.
On 23rd October, he chose to use ethics as the excuse
saying that he had no interest in being the PM again.
Another leader was Penny Mordaunt.
She was trying to be the next Prime Minister.
But she couldn't get the 100 nominations.
Since Rishi Sunak was the only one to cross the mark of 100 MPs,
automatically he was declared the next Prime Minister.
"Rishi Sunak has now reached 100 backers.
This obviously means that he has now passed the threshold needed
to make the ballot for the next PM."
When Rishi Sunak became the PM,
some Indians in India rejoiced.
Because he is a person of Indian origin.
The same pride that people feel for Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai,
for people of Indian origin to reach such high levels in other countries.
The reason why we are witnessing this increase
has been detailed in a wonderful book, Indian Origin Global Takeover.
I recommend that you definitely read this.
And now let's get back to the topic.
He is faced with many responsibilities.
As you saw,
the UK is going through so many crises.
The falling value of the Pound Sterling.
The rapid inflation.
It's getting increasingly difficult for people to get by.
The impact of the Ukraine War.
Of Brexit.
On top of it, the reputation of the party has fallen unprecedently.
The world is eagerly waiting to see
the decisions that'll be made by Rishi Sunak.
To protect the country from these crises.
As I told you,
he was the Finance Minister in Boris Johnson's government.
But the public perception of him
the perception of the people in the UK for Rishi Sunak,
is perhaps not so favorable.
There are two major reasons for this.
First, the recent events in the Conservative Party.
People are calling for a General Election now.
People do not trust the Conservative Party now.
And the second reason is that
Rishi Sunak is actually the richest Member of Parliament.
"...a pretty privileged life thanks to the hard work of his immigrant parents.
Sunak made a fortune in business himself,
and then married the daughter of an Indian IT billionaire.
So he's also the richest Prime Minister imaginable."
His Net Worth is £730 million.
People question whether a man who has lived with a fortune,
will he be able to understand the problems of the common people?
Only time can reveal the decisions to be made by Rishi Sunak,
and whether he can get the UK back on track or not.
But the one lesson that we can take from this story is that
prima facie, this political crisis may seem like a terrible time for the UK,
but if you look at it in depth,
this is a sign of a healthy democracy.
A democracy where the media is so independent
that it can expose scandals.
Big revelations like Partygate and Wallpapergate
were directly aimed at the Prime Minister.
Their Election Commission is so independent
that it can courageously take action against the parties.
The police are free to fine even the Prime Minister.
And the politicians in the party act independently
to question their Prime Minister.
I'm not saying that the politicians in the UK are without any faults,
you can see the corruption problems there.
But the difference is that
there exists an internal democracy in the party,
and they can raise an issue against their Prime Minister's wrongdoings.
Can you imagine any Indian political party,
where the party workers openly criticize their party leaders?
This cannot be seen in any Indian political party.
This is something that we need to learn.
Thank you very much!
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