Congratulations to Liz Truss on becoming the Prime Minister of the UK. She started slowly; was third until the penultimate round, when she finally raced ahead of Penny Maurdant to reach the final two. She never looked back from there. In a short speech after being declared the winner she identified her priorities including cutting taxes and energy bills and the NHS. PM Modi congratulated her, while Rishi Sunak asked Conservatives to unite behind her.
While Sunak stayed in the lead during the selection process, Truss was able to gauge what people wanted to hear. Her campaign was politically savvy. She repeated in every interview that she understood what people were going through and promised relief within days of being elected. To large sections of population suffering from rising inflation and energy prices, depleting incomes and near prospect of freezing vs starving, the words of Liz Truss would have sounded reassuring.
Rishi ran a slick campaign, but there seemed an incessant effort of unknown origin to trip him over his success. It was strange that a prospective leader of the Conservative Party should be questioned over his material success. Why should it have mattered whether his shoes were from Prada or Bata? The ability to create self earned wealth is a valued conservative attribute. Rishi would not be the only conservative leader to wear good shoes or clothes. Yet questions about these followed him. His campaign had to be moulded to make him look like ‘just another regular guy’, while it should have been highlighting his own success as a model for him to replicate for others and for the country. After all, his success is proof that he knows how to make money. I was once told in Ghana by a conservative political leader that governments have to be able to earn money, to be able to spend it for the welfare of the people!
Was it due to the colour of his skin? Is it that people in Britain would rather not see so much success in a brown skinned person? From rich to the middle class, people of Indian origin seem convinced that Rishi did not stand a chance. The conservative party’s leadership contest reminded the migrant community of the slights they had suffered and the struggles they had endured. That does not make them less British or less committed to their adopted homeland.
The UK is going through very tough times. Two years of the pandemic squeezed the economy and before any recovery could take place, war began in Ukraine. This led to a steep rise in energy prices, a cause of enormous economic hardship, especially to the economically disadvantaged and vulnerable.
Truss promised relief, as did Sunak. But the latter also highlighted the need to tame inflation and set the economy right. The overall impression one got was that under Truss people would get breathing room. The UK will borrow more money and the economy will expand. Sunak, on the other hand appeared closer to the bitter reality that tough times can’t be wished or borrowed away.
Somehow, in elections, qualities like a warm smile, and connecting with unknown people, seem as important, if not more than ability. I have limited political experience of contesting elections for president of the student’s union of my college. I was elected unopposed and everyone in my team won. The professor of political science asked his class why they had supported me. To his surprise and my dismay, the predominant response was that they liked my smile! That was an important lesson for me as a political observer.
Truss gave the message that people wanted to hear. She did not give details of her plan. She says she wants to cut taxes. I have limited understanding of economics, but it seems that this would benefit the rich more than the poor. Those at the bottom of the ladder who may not even be paying taxes and who are most in need of the support would benefit minimally, or not at all. Moreover, the lowered taxes would reduce the revenue available to the government, limiting its ability to spend for the poor or to support businesses. Truss said that she would borrow to tide over these times, while hoping that lowered taxes would encourage growth.
I am left with several questions. Lowering taxes may prevent businesses from moving to other pastures or invite investments. But where would people be trying to move to? Or where would the investment come in from? If I was investing money at these difficult times, where would I go? Not to a country that seems to be trying to borrow its way out of trouble when its debt to GDP ratio is already 100 percent and where inflation is estimated to rise anywhere between 12-20 percent in the days to come!
Even though I have questions, I hope that brilliant minds in the UK will find ways to navigate these tough times. India wants a strong UK. Liz Truss knows India well. She has been negotiating a trade deal with India and has visited on more than one occasion.
Rishi Sunak has made an everlasting contribution to the Indian diaspora and to a modern Britain. He has placed the community at the forefront of the leadership race. It is no longer ‘if’ but ‘when’ an Indian origin person makes it to No 10 Downing Street. He is young and has much time to recover. Meanwhile, he should take satisfaction from a contest well fought!
