Will Rishi Sunak break the glass ceiling?
The rising star of British politics, Rishi Sunak, has won the first two rounds of voting in the race for the country’s prime ministership. The contest is narrowing down to him and Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt. Foreign secretary Liz Truss is still hot on their heels. This initial vote reflects the preference of Members of Parliament belonging to the Conservative Party. His real test, however, would be the final face-off with Mordaunt in the party vote. Once the list of prime ministerial hopefuls comes down to two, the fee-paying grassroots members of the Tory party will cast the final vote to select one of the two short-listed candidates as Prime Minister.
It is here that Sunak would face the burden of history. The overwhelmingly white United Kingdom voters have never chosen a non-white as their Prime Minister. Most of the nearly two lakh Tory grassroots members are conservative and white men and over sixty years of age. Opinion polls among them have placed Mordaunt ahead of Sunak though the latter enjoys the support of numerous party MPs.
The bulk of the Tory members belong to the right. Boris Johnson stormed into office in 2019 on the wave of English nationalism with the slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’. In the last vote, he secured 66% support of the grassroots members and his rival Jeremy Hunt, a little over 33%. Hunt has now thrown in his lot behind Rishi. But Johnson still enjoys considerable support among party members. Sunak played it smart by refusing to criticise Johnson at his first campaign event, even describing him as the “most remarkable person” he has met.
The gesture was aimed at mollifying Johnson supporters among party members who blame him for triggering the Prime Minister’s resignation. Sunak’s bold gambit of quitting the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer by taking the high ground of integrity and transparency won him huge support among his party MPs. But will the tactic equally impress the grassroots party members is the question.