Keep calm and carry on?
By Wisley Lau
Over the last few weeks, the United Kingdom has gone through some rough patches. In under seven weeks, there were three PMs (Prime Ministers) occupying 10 Downing Street. Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, all three have had their hands on the helm as the country drifted through political turmoil never experienced since Brexit, and at a critical moment as the country heads to an uncertain future.
Let’s start with Boris Johnson, a PM who started the year as the saga of Partygate started grinding on. Late last year, it was revealed that there were Christmas parties being held at Downing Street while the country was in lockdown. In January 2021, the Metropolitan Police revealed that there were twelve parties being held at Number 10, three with Johnson participating in. Outrage and calls for resignation grew as the public resented the heads of government openly breaking rules that they imposed and claimed it was for the good of public health.
In the meantime, even though he was losing supporters at home, he got a new fanbase in another country. An ardent supporter of Ukraine as Russia invaded the country, Johnson was one of the first western leaders to visit Zelensky as the war started and has rallied global support for Ukraine while providing weapons for them. Zelensky and Johnson have praised each other’s leadership during the war and the public also had great respect and praise to the PM.
After the Sue Gray report (the government inquiry to Partygate) was dropped, a confidence vote was called for Johnson in June but the PM got enough support to stay on the job. The last straw came in July after he lied about not knowing his deputy chief whip Chris Pincher had allegations of sexual harassment. After the news went public, his then Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned, which then triggered nearly 60 government ministers to quit the job. Finally, he announced that he will go.
Then, a bitter leadership contest was held and the finalists being former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and then foreign secretary Liz Truss. The spotlight between the two candidates is their vision on the economy. Due to the war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, and Brexit to name a few, the UK is under the grips of a cost of living crisis not helped by the rising level of inflation. Sunak proposed increasing taxes and cutting spending on different services, but Truss wooed Conservative Party voters by calling for tax cuts and more borrowing. During the campaign, Sunak had criticized Truss’ tax cut policy and had warned of dire consequences following it.
In the end, Truss won and after she moved into Number 10, she appointed her ally Kwasi Kwarteng to be Chancellor and pushed a mini-budget based on tax cuts and trickle-down economics, an economic policy by conservatives that theorize giving the rich to keep their money through tax breaks can cause the money to trickle down and make everybody richer.
That did not go well. In short, the UK pound fell to the lowest level it has ever seen, the Bank of England was forced to intervene, and pension funds were at the brink of disaster. It was a major economic calamity which led to an embarrassing U-turn, first through sacking Kwarteng and hiring Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor, and subsequently repealing the tax cut. At the same time, it was reported that the Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a staunch right-winger and hardliner on immigration, had sent government documents through her private email and was forced to resign. Then, a vote on fracking tore the Tories apart and after just 45 days on the job. Liz Truss resigned as well.
Hence, another Tory leadership race. During the race, it was rumored that Boris Johnson would run again as PM. In the end, Rishi Sunak was the one and only person to pass a threshold of supportive MPs and was appointed the new Prime Minister. But even his first days in office did not inspire confidence, he reappointed Suelle Braverman back to the Home Secretary position six days after she resigned, and one of his allies Gavin Williamson had to resign after his messages were found to contain threats to public servants.
Furthermore, Sunak has to deal with a bunch of political issues that urgently need solving. He needs to fix the mistakes made by his predecessor by cutting public spending to services like the NHS (National Health Service) or defense, a move likely to irritate some MPs, and that was not helped by the fact he and his wife are wealthier than King Charles III. The climate crisis is also top of the agenda as the summer heatwaves and Just Stop Oil protests were jamming the recent headlines, Sunak’s lack of foreign policy experience has left many wondering about his approach to Ukraine, and don’t forget the double digit inflation and cost of living crisis causing real pain to may Britons and the pain is expected to be even more painful in the upcoming months leading to winte
The past couple of months felt like years in British politics, and with rising voices from opposition parties like Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party calling for a general election which pundits have ensured would cause a Tory bloodbath, the political future of Britain is murkier by the day.