UK Politics: Sunak's plenty of great expectations and nil hope

by Thanos Kalamidas

Rishi Sunak; was the first person of colour, the first practising Hindu and one of the richest persons in Britain to become the youngest prime minister in modern UK history. These words are a repeated reference in all UK media and most of the world’s news agencies in the last few days creating a strange momentum of hope, we have unfortunately seen before.

Without moving far away, crossing oceans or anything like that, wasn’t Margaret Thatcher the first woman to become UK prime minister a few decades before? Wasn’t she the wind of change for women’s equality rights in an era where the women’s liberation movement was reaching a peak? Wasn’t she the hope to restore financial stability for the middle-class UK and security for the working class in Great Britain?

It took less than a year for everybody, not only in UK but all around the world, to realize that Margaret Thatcher was the worst enemy of women’s equality rights and the strongest provider of unemployment for the working class. The woman made the oppression of the working class and the establishment of the systematic inequality dogma and her legacy in history books.

Then again, moving to the other side of the ocean and the other beacon of hope, the first person of colour to become president of the USA, Barack Obama. In his case, we should take in consideration something that became more obvious after he finished his presidential terms; America was anything but ready for the first person of colour to become president of the USA and Donald Trump proved and keeps proving exactly that. He did try to change things but trying was not enough and, in the end, six years after his departure from the White House, the USA seems to have moved three centuries backwards partly to Obama’s weakness to play his cards including the race card.

Nevertheless, these two are jut examples, the better known ones. There are tens of leaders all around the world and all through history that broke the local and contemporary norms of a leader and prejudice, that fulfilled the people with hope and in the end, just like Margaret Thatcher, proved the worst enemy of any kind of hope and expectation.

There are/were exceptions, I’m sure; but sadly, history remembers the rule not the exception and the foundations of Rishi Sunak don’t promise an exception despite all expectations.

Oddly both examples, Thatcher and Obama, felt probably subconsciously that they had to prove something, and they had to do it strongly and very clearly for everybody to see, Maggie that she was not there for women’s equality rights or to honour her low-status roots while Barack felt that he was not going to make his administration all about the people of colour in the USA. Equally oddly, it was the fact that she was a woman that made even Labour voters to vote for her when critically needed and it was definitely a race that attracted many to Obama, even Republicans or conservatives.

Now, whether he likes it or not, subconsciously or not, race is a huge element in Rishi Sunak’s political situation. Even though nobody will ever admit it, Sunak missed prime ministership a few weeks ago to Anglo-Saxon Liz Truss, not because of her ‘brilliant’ economic program but because the conservative party was not ready for something all UK media emphasized constantly, the first person of colour to become UK prime minister. Then, when Liz Truss’s titanic ended in the Thames 45 days later, the very same people elected him as the UK’s first person of colour to become prime minister for exactly the same reason seen in him an Obama. An Obama not in terms of a fighter for the working class and race equality but an Obama constantly battling hard to prove that he’s not there to become the champion of the working class and race equality without forgetting that the man is rich. Mega capitalist rich. One of the richest persons in UK.

Parenthetically it is at farcical and ironic – doesn’t matter what the conservative media point about tolerance with the very few examples with constant references to Sajid Javid, Kwasi Kwarteng, Suella Braverman and Nadhim Zahawi – the historic fact that the Tories always represented colonialism, racism, intolerance, prejudice.

Rishi Sunak is not going to change the conservative’s economic dogmas for raving capitalism, workers’ oppression, fewer taxes for the rich and more for the middle class, cuts in benefits for the working class, privatization and nationalistic legislation. It’s all there if you look for it, he was chancellor under Boris Johnson administrating his economic policies.

Time will definitely show what Rishi Sunak brings but if anything, Margaret Thatcher, Barack Obama and definitely Liz Truss taught us is no hope for great expectations.

PS1. While Donald Trump answered to the question if USA was ready for a person of colour in the White House, the question if UK is ready for a person of colour in Downing Street, remains to be answered.

PS2. Rishi Sunak appoints anti-trans MP Kemi Badenoch as equalities minister. It didn’t take long to show his real face, did it?

First in Ovi Magazine