Prime Minister Sunak: UK has come a long way from open racism

Rishi Sunak's wealth and the fact that he represents racial diversity, but not economic or class diversity, do not and cannot take away from the essential significance of his assumption to office

Rishi Sunak has taken over as prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland following his selection by the members of Parliament associated with the ruling Conservative Party. Mr Sunak is the first British Asian to hold the post, and as such his assumption of office is a major landmark for India’s former imperial power. Two other smaller European countries — Ireland and Portugal — have had Indian-origin prime ministers before, and Leo Varadkar of Ireland is likely to take office again soon as part of a power-sharing arrangement in the Republic. However, the position of UK prime minister is undoubtedly of great global significance and reflects the increasing access and power that the Indian diaspora has in the affairs of their chosen countries.

It would be too much to assume that this means that India-UK relations will receive an upgrade. Mr Sunak does not differ very much from his party’s hardliners when it comes to issues like immigration and in general Indian-origin lawmakers in the West have been doubly careful about closeness to India for fear of raising issues of dual loyalties. For the Indian diaspora overall, however — and for some Indians in India, no doubt — there will nonetheless be something deeply satisfying about the prospect of a person with Mr Sunak’s origin occupying the position he now does. Certainly,

Mr Sunak’s connections with the home country remain strong. His marriage to the daughter of the co-founder of Infosys had briefly become a political controversy in the UK because of questions surrounding her tax status and Infosys’ business in Russia. However, it serves to underline his continuing ties to India.

Mr Sunak is also a practising Hindu, and has had no qualms about letting himself be photographed putting diyas outside the door of No 11 Downing Street when he lived there as chancellor of the exchequer during the pandemic. It is likely that he will do the same as prime minister. This underlines the degree to which the United Kingdom, which was once notoriously unfriendly to immigrants, and Mr Sunak’s party, which famously declared it would create a “hostile environment” for outsiders, have shifted ground when it comes to multiculturalism. In living memory, the Conservative Party grandee Enoch Powell, in his famous “rivers of blood” speech, predicted racialised violence, trauma and division as a consequence of immigration from Commonwealth countries into the United Kingdom.

That has not panned out in actuality, which is to the credit of the British political system. Within the United Kingdom, it has been pointed out that Mr Sunak is exceptionally wealthy, that he has worked in the past as a banker, and that he attended an exclusive public school. He represents racial diversity but not economic or class diversity, in this point of view. However, that does not and cannot take away from the essential significance of this moment. Even the opposition Labour politician, Wes Streeting, pointed out on British television that there would be children in his constituency that would see Mr Sunak and his family walking into Number 10 and feel a greater sense of belonging to their country. Britain, and Number 10 Downing Street, has come a long way from the open racism of Winston Churchill.