Having entered Downing Street with the mission of bringing economic stability to the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak will, barring any surprises, leave without glory, unable to shake off his image as a technocrat disconnected from reality in a campaign that turned into a via crucis.
In the final stretch before the legislative elections of July 4, nothing seems able to save the head of government, weighed down by the erosion of the conservatives in power for 14 years but also by his low popularity.
Nearly three-quarters of Britons think he is a bad prime minister, a proportion that has more than doubled since he came to power in late October 2022, according to pollster YouGov.
Rishi Sunak’s surprise call for these elections has not been the electroshock hoped for: the bad polls are coming thick and fast despite promises of tax cuts. And the entry into the race of anti-immigration candidate Nigel Farage is eating away at the Conservatives’ votes from the right.
Above all, Rishi Sunak, a 44-year-old former investment banker and the first representative of an ethnic minority to lead the country, is dragging his campaign blunders around like a ball and chain, such as his shortened stay in France for the 80th anniversary celebrations.e anniversary of the Landing, which forced him to apologize.
Some, even within its ranks, saw this as a glaring lack of political sense.
Soon after, his hesitation in sanctioning two conservative candidates suspected in a fraudulent betting scandal was criticised.
Meteoric rise
Born on May 12, 1980 in Southampton, on the south coast of England, to a doctor father and a pharmacist mother, Rishi Sunak is the eldest of three children. Born in India or of Indian origin, his grandparents immigrated from East Africa in the 1960s.
He attended the elite boys’ boarding school Winchester College, before studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford and then Stanford in the US, before founding his own investment firm.
Having entered politics in 2015 as an MP in Yorkshire, in the north of England, his rise has been meteoric. In early 2020, he was propelled to the prestigious post of Minister of Finance, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.
He contributed to Boris Johnson’s departure in 2022 by resigning from the government after yet another scandal involving the former prime minister. A “betrayal” that many conservatives have not forgiven him for.
During the internal campaign to succeed Boris Johnson, activists preferred Liz Truss. But she quickly had to resign, after having rocked the markets with her economic measures.
The Conservatives then chose Rishi Sunak to replace her, who got his revenge. He promised “integrity” and “responsibility” to the government.
Since then, calm has returned to the City, the economy is growing slightly and inflation has fallen. Yet Rishi Sunak is struggling to get credit for this, even within his party, which is more divided than ever and over which he has never really imposed his authority.
Even his dogged pursuit of plans to deport migrants to Rwanda – which Labour has promised to abandon if it comes to power – has not been enough to satisfy the Tory right wing.
Combative
The 20 months in power of this Brexit supporter turned millionaire and husband of a wealthy Indian heiress have also fuelled criticism from those who consider him out of touch with the realities of the British.
Like when he visits a soup kitchen and asks a homeless man if he works “in business” or what his “plans for the weekend” are.
The fortune of his wife, with whom he has two daughters and who has long benefited from a favorable tax status, or a video from his youth in which he claimed not to have any “working class” friends, had already caused unease before he came to power.
Despite the predicted debacle, Rishi Sunak has promised to fight “until the last day”, combative in his televised debates with his Labour opponent Keir Starmer, and two days before the election, making an early morning trip to Oxfordshire, several meetings with voters and an evening rally in London.
He implored voters not to “capitulate” to avoid Labour’s predicted “supermajority”.
But if he himself were to be re-elected in his constituency, known as a safe haven for the Conservatives, as Tory leader, Rishi Sunak could lead his party to its worst electoral defeat in its history.