LONDON: After being annointed as the sixth PM for the country, Rishi Sunak made a quick rejig of the cabinet retaining Jeremy Hunt as the Chancellor, Ben Wallace as Defence Secretary and calling back Suella Braveman to head the Dept of Home Ministry with Dominic Raab as his Deputy.
Hunt was appointed as UKs Chancellor of the Exchequer by Liz Truss after a financial downfall following a mini budget. Replacing Kwasi Kwarteng, Hunt reinstilled confidence in the markets.
Likewise, Ms Bravemen who had quit the Truss cabinet over a technical breach of government rules was reappointed as the Secretary of State for the Home Department. She was an outspoken critic of Rishi Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss’s economic policy — had come out in support of Mr Sunak in the run-up to his election last week. “We need unity, stability and efficiency. Rishi Sunak is the only candidate that fits the bill and I am proud to support him,” she wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
Suella stepped down last week, saying in her resignation letter that she sent an official document from her personal email address, breaking the ministerial code. The letter also contained harsh criticism of Liz Truss. Her government, Suella Braverman wrote, had “broken key pledges that were promised to voters”.
She also attributed the latest Leicester riots to the failure of the migrants to integrate into the host culture.
Rishi Sunak has made history as he became the first Indian-origin Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. At the age of 42, he is also the youngest PM in the history of the UK in more than 200 years.
Many Indians around the world see his election as a major win for the representation of brown people at a global level, especially considering the colonial history of the British empire. In this context, a quote attributed to Winston Churchill, who was the UK’s prime minister from 1940 to 1945, in which he dismissed the leadership skills of Indians, is doing rounds on social media.