[News Figures] 'Indo-origin' Sunak, UK's First Non-White and Youngest Prime Minister Candidate in 210 Years

Former Prime Minister Johnson Withdraws from Leadership Race... Sunak Poised to Become Sole Candidate and Prime Minister
Betting Firms "Sunak's Probability as Prime Minister 96%"... Corporate Tax Hike Reconsidered

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to become the first non-white Prime Minister of the UK on the 24th (local time). He will also set the record as the youngest Prime Minister in 210 years.

This is because former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was expected to be Sunak's strongest competitor in the leadership and Prime Minister election race that began after current Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation on the 20th, declared on the 23rd that he would not run. According to major foreign media, the probability of Sunak becoming Prime Minister, as calculated by UK betting company Betfair, soared to 96% immediately after Johnson's announcement of his withdrawal.

Sunak held unification talks on the afternoon of the 22nd but failed to reach an agreement. He officially declared his candidacy the next morning. Johnson asked Penny Mordaunt, another candidate who declared her candidacy, to withdraw and support him, but Mordaunt refused. Johnson apparently judged that securing the support of 100 Conservative MPs, the requirement for candidate registration, would be difficult and ultimately declared he would not run.

According to the BBC and others, Sunak is currently the only candidate who meets the registration requirements. Mordaunt currently has fewer than 30 MPs supporting her, making it unlikely she will secure the 100 MP endorsements needed by the 2 p.m. deadline on the 24th.

Considering the current situation, it is highly likely that Sunak will be registered as the sole candidate and confirmed as the next Prime Minister without a leadership vote.

Sunak comes from an Indian immigrant family. If he becomes Prime Minister, he will be the first non-white Prime Minister in British history. Born in May 1980, Sunak is currently 42 years old, making him the youngest Prime Minister in 210 years since Robert Jenkinson in 1812 (who was 42 years and 1 day old).

Sunak grew up in a wealthy family and attended elite institutions including Winchester College, one of the UK's top private schools, Oxford University, and Stanford University in the United States. His father became a doctor after studying at a British medical school in India, and his mother, a 1.5-generation immigrant, was a pharmacist. His maternal grandmother lived in East Africa before moving to the UK for her children’s sake.

After completing his studies, Sunak entered the financial sector, working as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and as a partner at the UK hedge fund TCI (The Children’s Investment). He was elected to Parliament in 2015 representing Richmond in Yorkshire and Humber. He was first appointed as a minister in Theresa May’s cabinet in 2018 and became Chancellor of the Exchequer in February 2020 under Johnson’s cabinet.

Shortly after his appointment as Chancellor, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, and he worked hard to manage the crisis. To reduce the increased government debt from the pandemic response, he implemented fiscal austerity measures such as raising corporate taxes, which led to conflicts with former Prime Minister Johnson. Eventually, as the Johnson cabinet faced crises due to controversies like the ‘party gate,’ Sunak was the first minister to resign, playing a decisive role in Johnson’s downfall.

After Johnson’s resignation, Sunak ran in the subsequent Conservative Party leadership and Prime Minister election, winning first place in all four rounds of voting by Conservative MPs. However, he lost the final vote by Conservative Party members to former Prime Minister Liz Truss and had to give up his dream of becoming Prime Minister. Ironically, Truss resigned after 44 days due to controversy over her tax cut plans, allowing Sunak to ultimately take the Prime Minister position.

Sunak is expected to seek financial market stability by reintroducing measures such as the corporate tax increase that he pursued as Chancellor. Truss was ousted after pushing for reckless tax cuts, including scrapping Sunak’s corporate tax hike plan. It remains to be seen whether this will help recover the Conservative Party’s support, which had fallen to rock bottom. In fact, in the July leadership election held after Johnson’s resignation, Sunak was the only Conservative candidate who polled higher than Labour leader Keir Starmer among the candidates who ran at that time.