Sunak’s win: Racial inequality redefined or simply repackaged?

Rishi Sunak’s win as the UK’s first Prime Minister of color is framed as a tremendous  milestone for the racial inclusion of minority communities in the UK parliament. However, many news reporters have argued that his background as a wealthy first-generation immigrant with a privileged upbringing has made him unrelatable to most who share his racial background. Instead, Sunak’s rise to power represents his ability to leverage the country’s precarious economic and political circumstances in his favor rather than as a symbol of increased racial equality and representation across the UK. 

Sunak’s political success is inseparable from his personal wealth and prestige. Despite being of Indian descent in a racially white dominated political space, Sunak has enjoyed access to exclusive networks and opportunities generally inaccessible to minorities through his family and marriage. Sunak’s father was a general practitioner, while his mother owned a pharmacy in Southampton, allowing him to grow up in an above-average household. His socioeconomic background gave him the privilege of choosing to study at Oxford and Stanford, before having the opportunity to work at Goldman Sachs. Moreover, his wife, Akshata Murthy, is the daughter of an Indian billionaire, which has helped expand his political connections. These economic and social opportunities are not a reality for most middle-class Indian and Hindu communities in the UK. 

Newspapers were quick to categorize Sunak’s election results as a win for all South Asians, but this simplification is worrying as it conflates all minority groups as ‘people of color.’ It neglects the variations that exist among South Asians and other races. For instance, Indians have enjoyed better economic standing in the UK, but this progress is not shared by all South Asians, such as members of the Muslim community. As a result, Sunak’s win can only be evidence of superficial progress made by the UK to the global media, but hides the persisting and prevalent issue of racial equality and representation in government and other day-to-day matters. 

Equality remains a critical problem in UK politics since Sunak's policies aim to improve the UK’s economy, but they may not be in the interest of minority communities. His policies include: implementing Brexit’s border policies with Ireland, issuing taxes on energy, removing the ‘mini-budget’ by the former prime minister, and balancing books that stabilize the UK's economy. While these efforts work towards stabilizing the market, it does not mean that they were especially considered for minority groups. Such as higher border constraints and increased taxes would not help the minorities and reduce their overall disposable income. Romanticizing Sunak as the first brown prime minister creates a false illusion that he is representative of, and would prioritize, the South Asian community’s interest. Evidently, his membership with these communities does not guarantee the same political and economic goals. 

Additionally, Sunak’s win was an anomaly in UK election history. He was not elected by popular support, but as a replacement Prime Minister amidst the country’s current political, economic and social environment. The previous prime minister, Liz Truss, not only served the shortest political career in the UK, but exacerbated the country’s political crisis with her failure to address the issues of high inflation and unaffordable cost of living. Consequently, UK citizens are faced with rising living costs and diminishing standards of living, coupled with low voter morale as they fail to see significant improvements to the economy. The government has simultaneously been faced with its biggest energy crisis in decades following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, Sunak’s electoral win is different from previous elections where the country was in a better position; leaders were able to make promises based on larger government budgets, voters had more time to deliberate on their choice and the general public was less frustrated with the political climate. As a result, the economic and political unrest played a significant role in fostering advantageous circumstances leading to Sunak’s win. 

Ultimately, Sunak’s rise to power was rooted in the hope garnered from his promised reforms to stabilize the UK's economy rather than his identity and commonality with the South Asian community. Despite the media’s heavy emphasis on the UK’s seemingly progressive racial inclusivity in parliament, Sunak proves that power ultimately lies with those who hold the reins to economic prowess.