Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Comment: Sunak's graceful exit is a testament to British democratic values

In his resignation speech, Sunak focused first on apologising – to the country and to his party – and taking personal responsibility.

Comment: Sunak's graceful exit is a testament to British democratic values

Rishi Sunak showed dignity and grace in defeat as he became a former prime minister this (5) morning. He told his constituency count in Richmond, Yorkshire, that he had conceded defeat during the early hours of the morning in a telephone call to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, speaking of the value of a democracy where “power will change hands peacefully with goodwill on all sides”.

This was Sunak as Britain’s anti-Trump – expressing sentiments of democratic civility that we would hope to take for granted in Britain, in stark contrast to the disruption of democratic norms after the last US presidential election, and perhaps to some of the most polarised arguments over Brexit here, too. Speaking outside Downing Street, Sunak praised his political opponent as “a decent public-spirited man who I respect”.


In his resignation speech, Sunak focused first on apologising – to the country and to his party – and taking personal responsibility. He briefly spoke of what he had been proud of during his short two-year half-term as prime minister.

Sunak did then acknowledge his role as a historic pioneer, characteristically choosing to somewhat understate its importance, combining his pride in his faith and heritage with an emphasis of valuing the lack of public attention to his fixed characteristics.

“One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister and that I could watch my two young daughters light Diwali candles on the steps of Downing Street,” said Sunak.

In his own first words as prime minister, Sir Keir placed somewhat more emphasis on Sunak’s role as a historic pioneer than Sunak has tended to do himself. Sir Keir, the social democrat, suggested that Sunak faced extra barriers and hurdles due to his ethnicity: “the extra effort that that will have required should not be underestimated by anyone”.

Sunak, as a liberal conservative, has tended to prefer to cast himself as having been the recipient of educational privilege and professional fortune for which he is grateful, giving his motivation for coming into politics and public life as the desire to give back. Yet, this 2024 election campaign – including the overt racism against Sunak from campaigners for the Reform party – did illustrate how even a fair chance to reach the very top does not in itself guarantee an equal experience of public life.

Sunak’s final message “we must hold true to that idea of who we are - that vision of kindness, decency and tolerance that has always been the British way”.

Those are noble sentiments. Sir Keir, as Sunak’s successor as prime minister, wishes to make a central theme of his pitch to bring people together. Sunak’s critics may ask how far he has always pursued those themes himself.

By instinct, Sunak has always been much more a bridger, than a culture warrior. By circumstance, the challenges of managing the Conservative party coalition have seen him come under pressure from the right.

Just as ethnic diversity became a new norm across the political parties, debates about race could often become more polarising than ever.

Left to his own devices, Sunak would have focused his premiership on the quest for economic growth – and his belief in education, and more maths for all, as the key to future productivity. Yet if his premiership was defined by one issue, it was the Rwanda scheme – and the pledges to stop the boats that he was unable to keep. The Rwanda plan was on the ballot paper in this general election - and did not bring the electoral dividends that the Conservatives hoped it might. Labour now has a clear mandate to scrap the plan – and to show that it can find a more constructive alternative.

Sunak’s short political career – he leaves as prime minister just nine years after entering parliament – has seen both the highs and lows of public life. Few politicians have ever been as unpopular as the relatively unknown chancellor of the exchequer who gave security and peace of mind to so many people during the pandemic with the furlough scheme. Yet this election campaign showed how unforgiving the public can be towards any mistake once minds have been made up that it is time for change.

Was Sunak handed an impossible job when he became the third prime minister in a matter of months in the autumn of 2022? Or could he have made better choices in office. Strong points can be made on both sides of this argument. On becoming prime minister, Sunak personally had a much better public reputation than the Conservative Party. But after two years in office, their reputations had converged — downwards. Having not been elected either by the public or the party, perhaps he lacked the standing to challenge internal political pressure and infighting.

LEAD Inset 2 Sunder Katwala Sunder Katwala

This campaign has exposed several of Sunak’s weaknesses in political campaigning - yet history may well be kinder to him. Sunak was not able to be the political miracle worker that his party needed to get another opportunity to govern after 14 long years. Yet the grace and dignity of this transition of power speaks to a public mood keen to move.

Sunak will surely not be the last British Asian party leader or prime minister. While he may like to value that, it should not be seen as such a big deal - that he was the first will make it easier for those who follow him.

(The author is the director of British Future)

More For You

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

We are living faster than ever before

AMG

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

Shiveena Haque

Finding romance today feels like trying to align stars in a night sky that refuses to stay still

When was the last time you stumbled into a conversation that made your heart skip? Or exchanged a sweet beginning to a love story - organically, without the buffer of screens, swipes, or curated profiles? In 2025, those moments feel rarer, swallowed up by the quickening pace of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

Shabana Mahmood, US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, Canada’s public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree, Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke and New Zealand’s attorney general Judith Collins at the Five Eyes security alliance summit on Monday (8)

Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer’s government is not working. That is the public verdict, one year in. So, he used his deputy Angela Rayner’s resignation to hit the reset button.

It signals a shift in his own theory of change. Starmer wanted his mission-led government to avoid frequent shuffles of his pack, so that ministers knew their briefs. Such a dramatic reshuffle shows that the prime minister has had enough of subject expertise for now, gambling instead that fresh eyes may bring bold new energy to intractable challenges on welfare and asylum.

Keep ReadingShow less
indian-soldiers-ww1-getty
Indian infantrymen on the march in France in October 1914 during World War I. (Photo: Getty Images)
Getty Images

Comment: We must not let anti-immigration anger erase south Asian soldiers who helped save Britain

This country should never forget what we all owe to those who won the second world war against fascism. So the 80th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day this year have had a special poignancy in bringing to life how the historic events that most of us know from grainy black and white photographs or newsreel footage are still living memories for a dwindling few.

People do sometimes wonder if the meaning of these great historic events will fade in an increasingly diverse Britain. If we knew our history better, we would understand why that should not be the case.

For the armies that fought and won both world wars look more like the Britain of 2025 in their ethnic and faith mix than the Britain of 1945 or 1918. The South Asian soldiers were the largest volunteer army in history, yet ensuring that their enormous contribution is fully recognised in our national story remains an important work in progress.

Keep ReadingShow less
Spotting the signs of dementia

Priya Mulji with her father

Spotting the signs of dementia

How noticing the changes in my father taught me the importance of early action, patience, and love

I don’t understand people who don’t talk or see their parents often. Unless they have done something to ruin your lives or you had a traumatic childhood, there is no reason you shouldn’t be checking in with them at least every few days if you don’t live with them.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Populist right thrives amid polarised migration debate

DIVISIVE AGENDA:Police clash withprotesters outside Epping councilafter a march from the Bell Hotelhousing asylum seekers last Sunday(31)

Getty Images

Comment: Populist right thrives amid polarised migration debate

August is dubbed 'the silly season’ as the media must fill the airwaves with little going on. But there was a more sinister undertone to how that vacation news vacuum got filled this year. The recurring story of the political summer was the populist right’s confidence in setting the agenda and the anxiety of opponents about how to respond.

Tensions were simmering over asylum. Yet frequent predictions of mass unrest failed to materialise. The patchwork of local protests and counter-protests had a strikingly different geography to last summer. The sporadic efforts of disorder came in the affluent southern suburbs of Epping and Hillingdon, Canary Wharf and Cheshunt with no disorder and few large protests in the thirty towns that saw riots last August. Prosecutions, removing local ringleaders, deter. Local cohesion has been a higher priority where violence broke out than everywhere else. Hotel use for asylum has halved - and is more common in the south. The Home Office went to court to keep asylum seekers in Epping’s Bell Hotel, for now, yet stresses its goal to stop using hotels by 2029. The Refugee Council’s pragmatic suggestion of giving time-limited leave to remain to asylum seekers from the five most dangerous countries could halve the need for hotels within months.

Keep ReadingShow less