New Delhi: Rishi Sunak was on Tuesday anointed Britain’s first Prime Minister with Indian origins. He paid a visit to Buckingham Palace after King Charles III invited him to form the new government following the exit of Liz Truss from the country’s top post.
In his first speech as the UK PM outside 10, Downing Street, the third boss the country had in three months, Sunak said fixing mistakes begins now. Promising to unite his crisis-hit country, he said he will earn his citizens’ trust and will put the needs of the public first. “Trust is earned and I will earn yours…,” Sunak said, adding there will be difficult decisions.
Stating that some mistakes were made” by his predecessor, Sunak promised to place “economic stability and confidence” at the heart of his agenda. “I have been appointed to fix the mistakes.” He said he would confront the “profound economic crisis” with compassion and lead a government of “integrity, professionalism and accountability.”
“I want to pay tribute to my predecessor Liz Truss. She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country. It is a noble aim. And I admired her restlessness to create change. But some mistakes were made — not born of ill will, or bad intentions. Quite the opposite, in fact. But mistakes, nonetheless. And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister, in part to fix them,” Sunak added.
“Our country is facing a profound economic crisis. The aftermath of COVID still lingers. Putin’s war in Ukraine has destabilised energy markets and supply chains the world over,” the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer said.
The 42-year-old former hedge fund boss is also the youngest British prime minister in 210 years. In his first address as Tory leader soon after the result was declared on Monday, Sunak said his priority would be to bring the country together and said he was “humbled and honoured” to get the “greatest privilege” of his life to give back to the country “I owe so much”.
