Rishi Sunak and the politics of envy
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The Hindu gods certainly appear to be smiling on Rishi Sunak. The festival of Diwali coincides with his coronation as leader of the Conservative Party, the prelude to his appointment tomorrow as Prime Minister. This day should be a proud one: not only for Hindus everywhere (one of the first to offer his congratulations was Prime Minister Modi of India) and indeed for all Asians and Africans (the Sunaks are Punjabis from Kenya and what is now Tanzania), but for all those who are British, whatever their heritage. This country has a legitimate claim to be the most open and tolerant society on earth, or indeed that has ever existed.
Mr Sunak is not, in fact, the first member of an ethnic minority to become PM. That honour belongs to Benjamin Disraeli, who remained Jewish regardless of the fact that he was baptised. The fact that Disraeli first held the office 155 years before Mr Sunak demonstrates that Victorian England does not deserve the obloquy that it frequently receives for prejudices of which it was far less guilty than its contemporary counterparts elsewhere.
Neither does the Conservative Party warrant such criticism. Not only will the first non-white Prime Minister be a Conservative; so are the first three women to hold the office. As for the other Great Offices of State: the first minority Foreign Secretary , the first two minority Chancellors of the Exchequer and the first three minority Home Secretaries have all been Tories.
Needless to say, some on the Left will continue to carp, perhaps to distract from the fact that they have been much slower to promote women and ethnic minorities. In an article for The Times today , Sathnam Sanghera trots out a notable piece of nonsense, claiming that Mr Sunak ’ s leadership campaign is “ a clear illustration of how white privilege works ” , because despite being “ by far the most qualified candidate … he has still had to prove himself repeatedly against utterly woeful white candidates ” . Well, in a democracy it is normal to have to prove oneself against others. Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss last summer mainly because he had been the principal assassin of Boris Johnson — who had promoted him to be Chancellor, replacing Sajid Javid (whose heritage is Pakistani Muslim), despite Mr Sunak ’ s relative youth and political inexperience. That he has taken until now to enter No 10 suggests not “ white privilege ” but the opposite: a ruthless meritocracy that tested his older and more experienced rival to destruction. He is, incidentally, the youngest PM for more than two centuries, since Lord Liverpool in 1812 — a fact which hardly implies that he had to overcome “ white privilege ” to succeed. That phrase may have some meaningful application in the United States, but it is positively mischievous when applied to the UK.
The one minority that Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty are less keen to identify with are people of wealth. The new PM ’ s word cloud finds that “ rich ” is by far the most commonly used adjective to describe him. It is true that one would have to go back a long way to find a Prime Minister whose personal wealth compared to that of Sunaks. Soon after his appointment as Chancellor in February 2020, I wrote here about Rishi ’ s emergence as an example of the “ irresistible rise of the new plutocrats ” . Here is the concluding paragraph:
“ Rishi Sunak is almost certainly wise enough to know that in British politics, wealth is best kept in the background. If he has any doubts, the MP for Richmond, Yorkshire should ask the former MP for Richmond, London. Zac Goldsmith, son of a charismatic billionaire, whose failure to become Mayor of London was followed by the loss of his seat, twice in three elections. Like so many monied politicians, he has ended up in the Lords. If the new plutocracy is now to encroach on British politics, too, then better far that the billionaires know their place — what MPs refer to as The Other Place. ”
This was a year before the “ scandal ” of Akshata Murty ’ s non-dom tax status emerged, to be followed by further revelations about her investments in companies that later failed. Now that Mr Sunak is PM, my advice to keep his family wealth “ in the background ” is out of date. Under the level of scrutiny that he must now expect, Rishi cannot keep his and his wife ’ s fortune under wraps.
Instead, they should think seriously about creating a philanthropic foundation, on the lines of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The prejudice against the rich is one of the last that is still seen as acceptable. The only answer to it is to give away as much of their wealth as they can bear to part with. Overnight, the Sunaks ’ image would be transformed. Mrs Sunak would have a major role that was independent of her husband, since he will be obliged to step back from any active part in managing their finances. She would be able to demonstrate her charitable credentials in a manner that the British public would immediately find sympathetic. Great wealth is actually popular in this country when it is combined with munificence. There is no other way to disarm the politics of envy, which the Opposition parties will undoubtedly deploy ad nauseam . Rishi Sunak deserves his success, just as his family do not deserve to have his position held against them. But the Sunaks will have to make a sacrifice of part, at least, of their fortune before the new Prime Minister will gain a fair hearing when he demands sacrifices from the rest of us for the sake of the country.
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