British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is taking the biggest gamble of his political life by calling a general election for July 4. He could have waited until January next year. Sunak will be hoping that calmer economic conditions will be rewarded at the ballot box. Sunak became prime minister in October 2022.
FILE - New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at Downing Street in London , Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, after returning from Buckingham Palace where he was formally appointed to the post by Britain’s King Charles III. FILE - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty arrive at the Conservative Party annual conference at Manchester Central convention complex in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
Sunak had warned Conservative Party members that her economic plan was reckless and would cause havoc. He proved right. Smooth, confident and at ease with the march of modern technology, he was dubbed “Dishy Rishi” and quickly became one of the most trusted and popular faces within Johnson’s government. That was largely thanks to his job retention program, which paid up to 80% of the wages of those who couldn’t work during the COVID-19 lockdown, arguably saving millions of jobs.
That tension has been most notable in his controversial plan to send migrants arriving in small boats across the English Channel to Rwanda rather than being allowed to seek asylum in Britain. The more right wing elements in his party have argued that the policy is destined to fail, and urged Sunak to block all routes of legal challenge.
“It doesn’t look good, for any prime minister to look completely sodden and, damp in the way that Rishi Sunak did,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
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