Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sunak and said he looks forward to working together with him to transform the India-UK ties into a modern partnership. Sunak's father-in-law and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy wished him success. Sunak is married to Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murthy and the couple have two daughters – Krishna, 11, and Anoushka, 9.
Rishi Sunak’s ascent is a breakthrough for diversity, with privilege attached In northwest London, home to one of Britain’s largest Hindu communities, celebrations for Diwali, a festive holiday, were well underway Monday. Children tossed small fireworks that popped as they slammed into the sidewalk. Bright lights strung across the street twinkled overhead. Families bought sweets and candles.
But many who were gathered with their families said that they suddenly had something new to celebrate — the news that Rishi Sunak, the eldest son of a doctor and pharmacist of Indian descent, will become prime minister, the first person of colour to hold Britain’s highest political office. Britain is home to a vibrant and diverse community of people with roots in India, which it ruled as a colony for nearly a century before India won independence in 1947. As many as 1.5 million people of Indian descent live in England and Wales, making them the largest ethnic group after white Britons. That makes Sunak’s triumph a significant milestone for Britain’s Indian diaspora, whose long struggle against racism and prejudice is rarely a prominent issue in British politics. (Read more)
Rishi Sunak earned cheers from his lawmakers and plaudits from political commentators on Wednesday as he locked horns with the opposition Labour Party in parliament for the first time since becoming leader.
Sunak, seeking to end a period of political instability that has seen two previous prime ministers leave Downing Street in two months, struck a confident tone as he sought to get his Conservative Party off the back foot.
monthly limit of free stories.
with an Express account.
The 42-year-old – who became the youngest prime minister in modern British history when he was appointed by King Charles on Tuesday – hit back at Labour’s claims that he is planning to cut public spending sharply to repair the public finances.
“My record is, when times are difficult in this country I will always protect the most vulnerable,” Sunak said to vociferous support from the Conservative benches in the House of Commons. “We did it in COVID and we will do that again.”
Read more here https://indianexpress.com/article/world/sunak-parliament-debut-8231733/
(REUTERS)
Britain has postponed the announcement of a plan to repair the country’s public finances to Nov. 17 for it to reflect the “most accurate possible economic forecasts,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said.
“Our number one priority is economic stability and restoring confidence that the United Kingdom is a country that pays its way, and for that reason, the medium term fiscal plan is extremely important,” he said of the fiscal statement, previously scheduled for Oct. 31.
Read more here UK fiscal statement delayed to Nov 17, says finance minister Hunt
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is holding the first meeting of his new Cabinet before facing the opposition in Parliament on Wednesday for the first time as leader.
Sunak took office on Tuesday and appointed a government mixing allies with experienced ministers from the governments of his two immediate predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as he tries to tackle Britain’s multiple economic problems.
A package of unfunded tax cuts Truss unveiled last month spooked financial markets with the prospect of ballooning debt, drove the pound to record lows and forced the Bank of England to intervene — weakening Britain’s fragile economy and obliterating Truss’ authority within the Conservative Party.
Read more https://indianexpress.com/article/world/uk-pm-rishi-sunak-parliament-first-time-8230983/
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed key ministers to his government after replacing Liz Truss as the leader on Tuesday. His Cabinet is a mix of sitting members of the previous government and new leaders.
Sunak brought in people from different wings of the Conservative Party for his Cabinet. He removed about a dozen members of Truss’ government but kept several senior figures in place, including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
Here is a list of the main Cabinet and ministerial appointments. (Read more)
A renowned south Indian restaurant in Bengaluru, Vidyarthi Bhavan, has tweeted a picture of UK PM Rishi Sunak visting the restaurant in 2019.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will gather his newly appointed cabinet for the first time on Wednesday, a day after taking power with a promise to fix the mistakes of his predecessor and stabilise the economy.
At the top of Sunak's agenda will be preparation for a fiscal statement, keenly anticipated by financial markets, which is scheduled for Oct. 31 but which the Times newspaper reported could be pushed back by a few days.
As Britain's third prime minister this year, Sunak faces a daunting list of problems beyond the economic crisis, including how to unite and rebuild a fractured party whose reputation has been shredded by months of scandals and rows. (Reuters)
As Rishi Sunak takes charge, the nature of the economic challenge he faces is quite daunting. Here are some of the key findings of analysis done by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (in the UK).
Udit Misra, Deputy Associate Editor of The Indian Express explains the challenges for the newly elected PM rishi sunak and UK economic crisis.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will want to take some time to look at the detail of a fiscal statement originally due at the end of this month, foreign minister James Cleverly said Wednesday.
Cleverly told Sky News he did not have a "specific confirmation" of the date of the fiscal statement, originally planned for Oct. 31 by Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss, who left office on Tuesday.
"(Sunak), of course, will want to take some time to work on the detail on that," Cleverly said. "We know it needs to come soon. We know people want certainty. We know people want a clearer idea of the government's plans." (Reuters)
British High Commissioner Alex Ellis described as a “historic moment” the elevation of Rishi Sunak as the country’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister.
“The election of the first Hindu PM of Britain is a historic moment,” Ellis said in Hindi. (Read more)
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with US President Joe Biden Tuesday evening and they are set to meet in person at the upcoming G20 Summit in Indonesia, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
The leaders discussed the extent of UK-US cooperation, both bilaterally and in regions such as the Indo-Pacific where the AUKUS pact forms part of efforts to counter China's malign influence, the spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. (Reuters)
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a call that the UK's support for Ukraine would be steadfast and "as strong as ever under his premiership," a Downing Street spokesperson said.
"The Prime Minister said the United Kingdom's support for Ukraine would be as strong as ever under his premiership, and President Zelenskyy could count on his Government to stand in continued solidarity," the spokesperson said. (Reuters)
With Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak taking charge as Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister, a debate has started over his roots with people from both India and Pakistan making claims and counter-claims over his ancestral lineage.
The reality, however, lies somewhere in the middle, and Sunak’s elevation can be termed as a matter of pride for both India and Pakistan — once ruled by the British for over 100 years, say experts.
Calling himself a “proud Hindu”, Sunak in his speeches often talks about his “Indian roots” and of “where he came from.” From performing gau puja (cow worship), serving community meals at a temple, and not eating beef to celebrating Diwali with family and taking oath on the Bhagavad Gita after becoming an MP, Sunak says he never tried to hide his faith. Sunak has said he marks the “British Indian” category while filling out the UK Census form. (Read more)
Such is the significance of his identity as a British Hindu of Indian-African heritage that it is tempting to overlook Rishi Sunak as the fifth prime minister of an embattled, divided, island in less than six years. After all, racism in the UK runs so deep that it took an economic meltdown, two prime ministerial resignations, lack of an electoral mandate, and severe economic privilege on his part for multiculturalism to succeed. Given that he lost the previous leadership bid to Liz Truss despite demonstrating competence as pandemic-time Chancellor, the accidental nature of his rise is unlikely to be lost on Sunak.
But to understand the gravity of his rise and the choices he faces, there’s a need to locate Sunak at the centre of two interlocking political and economic dilemmas. Politically, Sunak needs to secure the support of the pro-Brexit, anti-migrant constituencies that don’t view him as an English “patriot”, thanks to his skin colour. Economically, he needs to strike the classic balance between welfare spending to alleviate an electorally salient cost-of-living crisis while augmenting support for big private business. Why these dilemmas? Because race and class are paramount fault lines in British national life and Sunak is a privileged minority on both counts. (Read more)
Many Indians are getting excited about, Rishi Sunak — he’s “one of us”, they think. The Internet is flooded with funny memes — showing chappals left by visitors outside 10 Downing Street (presumably because many Indians do not enter homes wearing shoes); a swastika (the ancient Hindu auspicious sign, not the hijacked Nazi caricature) on the door; and on the new Prime Minister’s seeming likeness to Ashish Nehra, the former Indian left-arm fast bowler.
Here are five things you did not — or may not — know about the 57th Prime Minister of the UK. (Read more)
US President Joe Biden and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in a phone call Tuesday, reaffirmed their two countries' "special relationship" and agreed on the importance of supporting Ukraine, the White House said in a statement.
Biden and Sunak also agreed on the importance of working together to address the challenges posed by China and to secure sustainable and affordable energy resources, the statement said.
They also discussed their commitment to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, it said. (Reuters)
British lawmaker Suella Braverman was reappointed as interior minister on Tuesday by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, less than a week after she resigned from the role for breaching government rules.
Braverman, 42, stepped down a day before former prime minister Liz Truss did after breaching email security rules, also voicing concerns about the direction of Truss’s government in her resignation letter. Read more
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday began putting his top team in place with key Cabinet appointments and decided to keep the new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, in place for economic stability. In another move aimed at continuity, James Cleverly will stay in his post as Foreign Secretary despite not being a Sunak loyalist. --PTI
Will unite country, not with words, but with action: Rishi Sunak
Former UK PM Boris Johnson congratulates Rishi Sunak on being appointed as the British PM. "Congratulations to Rishi Sunak on this historic day, this is the moment for every Conservative to give our new PM their full and wholehearted support," Johnson wrote on Twitter.
Rishi Sunak arrives at Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles III to be anointed UK's first Indian-origin Prime Minister, Reuters reports.
Britain's outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Tuesday that her government had acted "urgently and decisively" to help hard-working families and provided assistance to thousands of businesses to avoid bankruptcy.
Truss was speaking after chairing her final Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street before heading towards Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to King Charles.
In her farewell speech, Truss said it was "a huge honour" to be prime minister and to lead the nation in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II and welcoming the accession of King Charles III.
Truss, who stepped down last Thursday after 45 days in office becoming Britain's shortest serving Prime Minister, said that her government had acted "urgently and decisively" to help hard-working families.
She said she had helped thousands of businesses to avoid bankruptcy, and taken back energy independence so we're "no longer reliant on malign foreign powers". --PTI
Liz Truss in her last speech as UK Prime Minister wished incoming prime minister "every success", news agency Reuters reported. "We must out-compete the autocratic regimes... I know brighter days lie ahead," she said.
Akshata Murty, Britain's incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's wife whose tax status on income from outside the UK had triggered a controversy, earned Rs 126.61 crore (USD 15.3 million) in dividend income in 2022 from her shareholding in India's second-largest IT firm Infosys.
Murthy, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, held 3.89 crore shares, or 0.93 per cent, of Infosys at the end of September, according to company filings with the stock exchanges.
Her holding is worth Rs 5,956 crore (about USD 721 million) at Tuesday's trading price of Rs 1,527.40 on the BSE. (Read more)
Rishi Sunak becoming UK's Prime Minister is "our Barack Obama moment," said the leader of a Hindu temple that was set up by the Indian-origin leader's grandfather.
The Vedic Society Hindu Temple in Southampton, nearly 110 km from south-west of London, was established by Sunak's grandfather Ramdas Sunak, in 1971, with his father, Yash, continuing his connection as a trustee during the 1980s, The Independent newspaper reported. (Read more)
Rishi Sunak becoming Britain's next prime minister will help stabilise markets after a period of turmoil, but his new team should ensure it is focused on keeping London competitive as a global financial centre, the CEO of lender HSBC said.
"We're very pleased that there has been a decision taken on the UK Prime Minister position, that now allows the markets to stabilise as you can see in the way the markets reacted yesterday, that's positive," HSBC CEO Noel Quinn told Reuters, after the bank posted third-quarter earnings.
Quinn said Sunak's government should work with the financial industry to ensure Britain's regulatory environment remains globally competitive, while not sacrificing its reputation for prudence.
"There are some areas where I think there is potential for improvement to drive greater competition," Quinn said, adding that he welcomed moves to embed competitiveness into regulators' objectives. "It's important for the City of London to remain competitive with regulatory environments around the world." (Reuters)
As Rishi Sunak takes charge, the nature of the economic challenge he faces is quite daunting. Here are some of the key findings of analysis done by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (in the UK):
1. In the near term, the key challenge facing the UK economy is the terms-of-trade shock – an increase in the price of imports relative to exports. These effects are boosting inflation, but crimping domestic income. We expect these effects to weigh heavily on demand across both the household and corporate sectors over the coming year… The key policy question is how this loss is allocated.
2. For households, the looming cost shock will hit those least able to bear it…In the medium term, sharp increases in mortgage costs may push any consumer recovery into 2024.
3. The weakness on the supply side of the UK economy is now an urgent concern. While output is 2.6% short of its pre-Covid trend, we estimate current excess demand in the order of 1.4% of GDP. (Read more)
?? Rishi Sunak will take charge as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister after an audience with King Charles III.
?? Outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss will chair her final Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday morning (around 1.30 pm Indian time).
?? Liz Truss will then address the media (at around 2.45 pm Indian time) and make her way to Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation.
?? Sunak, 42, will then arrive at the palace for his meeting with the King, who will formally anoint him as the UK's new Prime Minister.
?? The former chancellor will then make his first prime ministerial address on the steps of 10 Downing Street at around 4 pm Indian time. He is expected to be joined by wife Akshata Murty and daughters Krishna and Anoushka.
With Rishi Sunak set to take over as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said he looks forward to working together with him to transform the India-UK ties into a modern partnership.
In a congratulatory message on Twitter, Modi also offered his “special Diwali wishes” to the “living bridge of UK Indians”. A conservative MP, who has also served as the treasurer to the exchequer, Sunak will be the first UK PM of Indian-origin. (Read more)
N R Narayana Murthy, co-founder of the Indian information technology bellwether firm Infosys Ltd, congratulated his son-in-law Rishi Sunak on Monday for ascending to the post of Prime Minister of Britain. Murthy said he was confident Sunak would “do his best” for the country.
“Congratulations to Rishi. We are proud of him and we wish him success. We are confident he will do his best for the people of the United Kingdom,” Murthy said in a brief statement after it became clear that Sunak, 42, would be Britain’s next Prime Minister.
Sunak is married to Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murthy and the couple have two daughters – Krishna, 11, and Anoushka, 9. (Read more)
Rishi Sunak will become Britain’s next prime minister after he won the race to lead the Conservative Party, leaving him with the task of steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.
Sunak, one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster and set to be the country’s first leader of colour, will be asked to form a government by King Charles, replacing Liz Truss, the outgoing leader who only lasted 44 days in the job before she resigned. (Read more)