London: A politically and economically tumultuous 2022 culminated in a historic first for the UK as Indian-origin Rishi Sunak took charge at 10 Downing Street as the country’s first non-white Prime Minister.
At 42, the British Indian leader is also the youngest in 200 years and firmly set his stall in favour of India soon after being elected Conservative Party leader on Diwali.
“The Prime Minister said he was a visual representation of the historic links between the UK and India, and intended to build on this relationship to develop ever closer ties between our two countries,” said the Downing Street readout of Sunak’s introductory phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It came close on the heels of his former partygate scandal-hit boss Boris Johnson’s Diwali deadline to clinch a much-anticipated India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) being abandoned just days before. Sunak has since declared that the UK is “delivering a new FTA with India”, with the sixth round of negotiations taking place in New Delhi this month.
The political turmoil unleashed by his predecessor, Liz Truss the UK’s shortest-serving Prime Minister forced to resign following a disastrous un-funded mini-budget resonated across the bilateral relationship when her Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, threw the FTA talks into disarray with ill-judged attacks on Indians as “visa overstayers”.
Sunak’s reappointment of his…
