Political instability in the UK is serious. British Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned from her job. She could not keep her grand promises. More than a leadership crisis of the Conservative Party of the country, it seems to be a setback for this world power.
Truss was indeed highly popular among the Conservative Party members. Her fall is an ominous signal both for British politics and for the entire European continent. She has now entered the UK political history as the shortest serving Prime Minister of the country. Only after 44 days, she had to leave 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British Prime Minister. Before Truss, it was George Canning who served as PM for only 119 days.
Truss became the UK Prime Minister after winning an internal party poll against front running candidate Rishi Sunak, barely one and half months ago. And eventually she succeeded Boris Johnson, another controversial British PM and Conservative leader in recent times.
Now the big question is who will be the next occupant of the 10 Downing Street after Truss? According to the official sources of the Conservative Party, a new leader the largest party in the House of Commons (Lower House) will take over as the new PM. Further, his/her name will be announced by the party on October 28.
Interestingly, the main Opposition party, the Labour Party, is now projected to win a landslide victory, as per opinion polls. At the same time, the senior Labour leaders are demanding early general elections in the country. Keir Starmar, the top Labour statesman, said, “After 12 years of Tory (Conservative) failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. We need a general election now.”
It is absolutely true. Even major world leaders like US President Joe Biden have appealed for stability in the UK. But psephologists and other international political experts opine that a fresh general election is no guarantee of stability for this grand old nation.
Who are the most probable contenders for the top post at the moment? Among the most probables, Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of Exchequer (Finance Minister), is in the first line. He proved to be a prophet of the Truss Government’s demise today. Many of the predictions that he made during this summer leadership contest period about the economic plan of Truss have come true. Then only he had said that her massive unfunded tax cuts would push sterling to a point of no return. Further he also cautioned the British people that this would lead to serious panic in the bond market and a stern warning from the International Monetary Fund. Perhaps he would have been surprised by the speed his predictions came right, and finally brought the Truss regime down. One must remember that Sunak had a tough background of running his country safely through the global pandemic called Covid-19.
Another aspirant is Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons. Mordaunt has a high chance. Many say she is already been doing the dress rehearsal for the coveted office. She came third in the last leadership election that took place among the party members. She also served as the former Secretary of Defence and is a party moderate like Sunak.
The third leader in the line is Kemi Badenoch, who came fourth in the last leadership election. She was continuously rated as the top favorite by the grassroot members of the Conservative Party. The young leader is from the right wing of the party who argues that the current government’s climate targets could be too costly and a big burden on the economy. She has the backing of Tory grandee Michael Gove.
The fourth contender could be no other than Boris Johnson again. Many pollsters are saying that he could be a unity candidate for the top job. After failing to grapple with many scandals, he had to resign a few months back. Still he has a plan to offer stability to his countrymen, maybe this time with a new dream, much bigger than what he promised last time.
In fact, while giving his resignation speech, Johnson referred to a historic chapter of ancient history. He clearly said he would return to his plough like the way the Roman statesman Cincinnatus did. So it was indicated that he would live the life of a backbencher in the Parliament. But then what happened to the Roman leader was entirely different from what he prophesied — the next time he was called to take the lead, he returned to the mainstream politics but then served his second term only as a dictator. Who knows what is going on in Johnson’s mind?
The other contenders are Grant Shapps, Ben Wallace, Suella Braverman, Theresa May. We need to wait till 28th of this month to see a new face in 10 Downing Street. The grand wait is on with the new King Charles III, who has just taken over after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last month. The King will have a tough time leading his country to stability with such unpredictable politicians. He will have a tough time at a time when the world is grappling with the war in Ukraine and a surging China threat. For a new British PM, the first and foremost job would be to settle the home front before making a move to the world stage.
Today, the UK has become the vortex of political chaos in the European continent. When Brexit started with David Cameron’s tenure as PM in 2016, many thought that this will be the last period of uncertainty for Western Europe. On June 23, 2016, the people of the UK voted in a referendum and 51.8 per cent people, the majority voted in favour of leaving the European Union with whom it shared a partnership of more than four decades.
On record, Britain was the first sovereign country to leave the Union. After four years of tough bargaining, under two PMs — Theresa May and Boris Johnson — finally the country made its final departure from the EU on January 1, 2020. Still political wranglings are on between the UK and the EU. It has set a bad precedent for the entire Europe.
Succinctly, there is an old, new and anti-politics in Britain at this age of political uncertainty. Starting from the Labour leader and former PM Tony Blair to Cameron, Theresa May and finally Johnson, all have taken the British people for a ride. What all of them had committed during and after the general elections were not delivered to the general public. Gradually, people have lost complete faith in many of the public institutions in the country, especially the Parliament, the very heart of democracy.
The bitter truth is that the British politicians are simply failing their people. The grand nation is in a long wait for a sensible leader who could steer the nation to the world stage. The common people are reeling under high pressure of inflation, climate change, and a surging cost of daily life. This time the Conservatives should rethink and renew their promises to make Britain a better place. The Labour is already on the sideline. So the onus is on the Tory’s only.
(The writer is HoD, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Geeta University, Panipat)