“Rishi will make the best Prime Minister,” former Health Secretary Matt Hancock had said in an interview to India Today. This is slowly proving to be true.
In the race to 10 Downing Street, Indian-origin MP Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss have emerged as the top two contenders for the UK PM post. Sunak secured 137 votes in the last round of voting.
Sunak, the former British Finance Minister, has led in all rounds of the voting among Conservative lawmakers.
Talking about Sunak’s Indian origin, former health secretary, Matt Hancock, in an exclusive interview with India Today said, “Rishi is British but his relationship with India that he will bring as a Prime Minister is a bonus.”
“He is a true born Englishman, with a very British education. He was born into a National Health Service (NHS) family and went to Oxford University like me. But he brings many facets because of his heritage. I see the affinity he has and the close ties he has with India as a bonus,” Matt Hancock said.
He further added, “I have worked closely with him and he handles the crisis well.” He is supporting Rishi not because he is Asian, but because he has the calibre to become the PM, Hancock noted.
“I have seen him work under intensive pressure. He is up to the job. He is the best candidate for the job and it also happens that he is the most popular amongst the public, which will help us win an election,” Hancock added.
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‘”It’s great that our country can produce an exceptional individual like Rishi Sunak,” Hancock said while explaining why he is backing Sunak to be the next UK PM.
WHO IS RISHI SUNAK?
Born in Southampton to a general practitioner father and a pharmacist mother, Rishi Sunak, first became an MP in 2015. He was elected from Richmond, Yorkshire.
Sunak quickly rose through the Conservative party ranks and was appointed to the most important UK Cabinet post – Chancellor of the Exchequer by Johnson in 2020. The minister gained popularity for his economic package to aid businesses and employees as an unprecedented pandemic gripped the country and the world.
However, his massive popularity took a huge hit over his wife’s non-domiciled tax status and the partygate scandal, among other issues.
If Sunak does become the PM of Britain, then he will be the first person of Indian or even Asian origin to hold the post.
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