Michael Bankole, Royal Holloway University of London
Kemi Badenoch has become the first Black leader of a UK-wide political party. But her ascent is unlikely to translate into meaningful gains for Black Britons.
06Dec/24
Tag Archives: Rishi Sunak
05Jul/24
UK election: Tory downfall is democracy rectifying its mistakes
Stephen Barber, University of East London
Democracies are no better than other forms of government at avoiding catastrophic mistakes. But they are much more effective at rectifying them. While the 2024 British general election might have seemed a long time coming, as the country meandered from one failure to the next, the utter scale of defeat for the Conservatives is testament to the ability of a democratic system to reject, reverse and renew.
04Oct/23
Are NFTs really dead and buried? All signs point to ‘yes’
John Hawkins, University of Canberra
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are in dire straits. With the market in a severe downturn, it’s safe to assume the NFT bubble has well and truly burst.
It was never clear why these digital collectables traded for such large amounts of money. Now they mostly do not. What’s behind their turn of fate? And is there any hope for their future?
14Mar/23
Budget 2023: government needs to show it can jack up growth to regain economic credibility
Steve Schifferes, City, University of London
UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget is a tricky one in terms of timing. Having announced a set of steadying measures in the autumn statement after the Truss/Kwarteng debacle, this budget is likely to be the last but one before a 2024 general election. This makes it a little early for eye-catching tax cuts or business boosts.
01Nov/22
70 years of data suggest the Conservatives will suffer a big defeat at the next election – here’s how I worked it out
Paul Whiteley, University of Essex
With the UK’s new prime minister in office, it looks like the political turmoil of the last few months is likely to ease, at least for the time being. Rishi Sunak and his fellow MPs must put their political differences aside to focus on stabilising the economy and calming financial markets. But Sunak will of course have one eye on the next election, which he must call before January 2025.
25Oct/22
It matters that Rishi Sunak has become the UK’s first prime minister of Indian descent
Parveen Akhtar, Aston University
Following his uncontested run at the top job, Rishi Sunak acquires the less-than-coveted title of second successive un-elected British prime minister to take office in 2022. However, coming from Punjabi heritage, he also takes on the more esteemed title of the nation’s first British Asian leader.
25Oct/22
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: who is he and how did he end up with the top job in British politics?
Victoria Honeyman, University of Leeds
When Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss in the first Conservative Party leadership race of 2022, few were surprised. Many of the people given the chance to choose between the two candidates blamed Sunak for Boris Johnson’s downfall. They also preferred Truss’s “optimistic” economic policies to Sunak’s sombre assessment of the fiscal outlook. Where she promised generous tax arrangements, he argued that economic circumstances would be hard and taxes could not be cut in the short term. Indeed, he warned, they might even have to rise.
15Oct/22
Kwasi Kwarteng: only a desperate prime minister sacks a chancellor
Despina Alexiadou, University of Strathclyde
Having seen her government’s popularity plummet just weeks after taking office, British prime minister Liz Truss has sacked her chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng in a bid to save herself. Kwarteng, widely seen as Truss’s right-hand man, was rushed back to London from New York for the occasion, where he had been meeting with IMF officials on Thursday evening.
09Aug/22
Is race an issue for Rishi Sunak? It’s a difficult question for pollsters to investigate but the information we do have is telling
Paul Whiteley, University of Essex
A YouGov poll of party members completed on August 2 shows Rishi Sunak to be trailing Liz Truss 31% to 69% in the Conservative leadership contest. A similar poll completed on July 21 had him on 38% to her 62%. She appears to be winning the contest hands down.
25Jul/22
Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss? Polling shows party members want her – but the wider voting public would choose him
Paul Whiteley, University of Essex
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are the final two candidates chosen to go head-to-head in the battle to become the next leader of the Conservative party and, therefore, the next prime minister of the UK.