Rishi Sunak officially became the 57th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on October 25, making him the first Indian/Person of Color British Prime Minister. Following the resignation of former Prime Minister Liz Truss after only seven weeks prior, Sunak was elected by nearly 200 party lawmakers. Compared to the runoff election where Truss won, it seems like the people of Britain had little say in the matter this time around. On September 5, Truss beat Sunak in an election of conservative party voters and now, after a disastrous 45-day Truss-led country, Sunak will take over a reeling Britain and attempt to right the ship across the pond.
“It’s really nice to see representation for Indians and people of color as a whole, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out for the Indian population of the UK,” said Britain-born B-CC student Ananya Roy. She also expressed her pride, and that it was a groundbreaking milestone for people across the world.
Sunak has many pressing issues to attend to, as his priority list consists of how his government will handle the cost of living crisis, in addition to NHS reform, immigration policies, and LGBTQ+ matters.