Rishi Sunak, who recently became a first-time MP in 2015, has had a meteoric rise, is now a top contender to become Britain’s next PM. Earlier this year, when he became the first chancellor in British history to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office and his wife Akshata Murthy got embroiled in a tax dispute, the rise appeared to be akin to that of Icarus. It had happened. But with 358 Tory lawmakers and then 180,000 members voting for their party and the country’s next leader, Sunak is far behind in the game.
And he hasn’t been the only person of color or even of South Asian descent in the race for prime minister. This does not mean that British politics has turned into a post-race utopia. A survey by YouGov shows that Sunak is not the favorite among grassroots Conservatives, or even the second-most favorite. Yet and regardless of how he eventually rises in the race for PM, he has been Britain’s most popular politician for a significant part of the years after the pandemic. Some experts also believe that his whiteness has given him an exotic legup, which is more than any damage.
The pride of Britons, who are tasting the fact that half of the candidates with whom the current prime ministerial race began, were in the minority, is justified. It is not the result of migration and demographic change alone. The talent pool has expanded by accommodating diversity. Conservatives have made a push since David Cameron to recruit and promote minority candidates, and it paid off for them. For Britain too.
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