On Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 7:40:20 AM UTC+1, FBInCIAnNSATerroristSlayer wrote:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/world/europe/uk-boris-johnson-rishi-sunak.html

While Boris Johnson Sinks, Rishi Sunak Is on the Rise

A virtual unknown 10 months ago, the wealthy and polished British
finance chief gained stature during the pandemic, while remaining in his bossrCOs good graces.

Published Oct. 13, 2020Updated Oct. 15, 2020

LONDON rCo Breakfast starts at 8 a.m. and guests help themselves to croissants and juice before the sleek figure of Rishi Sunak, the British chancellor of the Exchequer, works his way around the crowded,
oak-paneled dining room of his official London home, No. 11 Downing Street.

For Mr. Sunak, meetings with groups of Conservative Party lawmakers help
him reach out and forge a network of support in Parliament. For the lawmakers, itrCOs a chance to meet someone many expect to one day move
next door rCo to No. 10, the prime ministerrCOs home.

Virtually unknown 10 months ago, Mr. SunakrCOs vertiginous rise has surprised almost everyone in British politics rCo in all likelihood even
the man who promoted him, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose approval ratings have plummeted during the pandemic.

rCLRishi Sunak has the strengths that the prime minister so conspicuously lacks, not only basic competence, but a grasp of detail,rCY said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, rCLand no one
has mounted such an obvious, in-your-face social media campaign as Rishi Sunak.rCY

It seems to be working. A recent poll of party members by the ConservativeHome website placed Mr. Sunak, 40, easily top of cabinet satisfaction ratings, while Mr. Johnson was almost bottom of the list.

Contrast that with a survey Professor Bale conducted last December in
which Conservative Party members were asked who should take over were
Mr. Johnson to step aside. rCLJust five out of 1,191 named Rishi Sunak,rCY he said, rCLand IrCOm not sure that all of them spelt his name correctly.rCY

When he was catapulted into his job in February, after two years as a minister rCo including six months in the No. 2 job at the Treasury rCo Mr. Sunak was firmly in the shadow of Mr. Johnson, who had just won a
landslide election victory.

But while Mr. Johnson has floundered during the coronavirus pandemic,
Mr. Sunak has been a beacon of calm and competence, intervening swiftly
to spend billions of pounds supporting jobs as the economy went into lockdown free fall. With new restrictions coming into force in parts of
the country, Mr. Sunak has announced new state support for affected
areas and on Monday he gave a fluent defense of his latest measures at a media conference alongside Mr. Johnson.

Perhaps wisely, given the speculation about his ambitions, Mr. Sunak
tried to burst his own bubble when the Conservative Party held its
recent party conference virtually.

In a surprisingly short speech, he lavished praise on Mr. Johnson and
warned that uncomfortable economic choices lay ahead. The subliminal
message seemed to be: You might like me a little less when all this cash
has to be paid back.

But right now, they like him a lot, and his appeal among nonpartisan
Britons has been burnished through slick social media posts on Instagram
and Twitter designed around rCLBrand Rishi.rCY Allies insist that Mr. Sunak is simply using digital media techniques to communicate more effectively rather than to promote his ambitions.

His posts stand out from the drab detritus of political advertising,
though. Often they feature a stylish photograph of the chancellor
endorsing a policy with his distinctive signature, rather like a
sporting celebrity might promote an expensive fitness accessory.

This was probably not what Mr. Johnson expected when he promoted Mr.
Sunak to take over from Sajid Javid, the previous chancellor who
resigned after refusing to accept curbs on his right to hire his own advisers. Mr. Sunak agreed, leading some to speculate that he would be
more compliant.

In Britain, the relationship between prime minister and chancellor rCo although a central pivot of government rCo is often one of rivalry and tension. So the idea in February was to ensure that there was one center
of power on economic policy: No. 10 Downing Street.

But few prime ministers can afford to fire two chancellors, so Mr.
Johnson was taking a risk in appointing someone as adept and diligent as
Mr. Sunak.

Not only is Mr. Sunak a smooth communicator but, with his Indian
heritage, he is a walking success story of modern multiracial Britain.

His grandparents, originally from Punjab, arrived in England from
British colonial East Africa in the 1960s. As a teenager, he says he suffered racist abuse. rCLIt stung, I still remember, itrCOs seared in my memory,rCY he told the BBC, recounting how he had been abused in a restaurant.

But while Mr. Javid, his predecessor, was the son of a bus driver from Pakistan, Mr. SunakrCOs father was a doctor and his mother ran a pharmacy. Together, they earned enough to send him to an elite private school, Winchester College.

Without that expensive education, Mr. Sunak might well still have
reached Oxford University (He graduated with top grades.) But his
schooling seems to have helped instill the confidence and social polish
that has allowed him to move effortlessly through the ranks of the Conservative Party.

Before his political career began in earnest, Mr. Sunak also earned an M.B.A. at Stanford University. There, he met his future wife, Akshata Murthy, daughter of Narayana Murthy, the billionaire co-founder of the
IT giant Infosys and one of IndiarCOs richest men.

Mr. Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs and two hedge funds before being
elected to Parliament in 2015. In the 2016 referendum on European Union membership, he voted to leave.

That decision sped his promotion through the ranks, though some
hard-line Brexit supporters say that they suspect it was a tactical move
and that they believe he is pressing Mr. Johnson to strike a trade deal
with the European Union.

One of Mr. SunakrCOs few political vulnerabilities is his wealth. There
was barbed commentary when he was photographed with a $235 rCLsmart mugrCY that keeps coffee or tea at a precise drinking temperature for up to
three hours and when he described working out on an exercise bike that retails at around 10 times that amount.

But Mr. Sunak is generally good at avoiding gaffes and is well plugged
into the media world. He was the best man at the wedding of a school
friend, James Forsyth, and Allegra Stratton. Mr. Forsyth is the
political editor of The Spectator, a conservative weekly, and Ms.
Stratton is a former journalist and broadcaster. She is currently
employed by Mr. Sunak as an adviser but is expected to become the spokeswoman for Mr. Johnson, in which capacity she will conduct
televised news conferences.

Mr. SunakrCOs allies see this as an illustration of the close ties between the Downing Street neighbors. But, while relations appear good at the moment, tensions have surfaced. Last month Mr. Sunak moved to protect
the economy by fighting off many lockdown restrictions suggested by scientists advising the government.

Those differences are likely to grow.

Some day, Britain will have to start to repay its huge pile of debt. Mr. Johnson neither wants to return to austerity nor to raise taxes, but
some decision cannot be delayed indefinitely.

Sophia Gaston, director of the British Foreign Policy Group and a fellow
at the London School of Economics, said, rCLThe chancellor has been in the privileged position of playing Father Christmas throughout the pandemic,
one of the few politicians bearing gifts rather than taking them away.rCY

rCLTax rises are on the horizon,rCY she added, rCLand he will soon have to take tough decisions about which industries to prop up and which parts
of the electorate to shield from the worst of the pandemicrCOs economic hit.rCY

Should unemployment rise to levels not seen since the 1980s, Mr. Sunak
would surely take at least some of the blame.

But, Ms. Gaston noted, he has already shown himself to be an outstanding communicator and a consultative and pragmatic leader. rCLIf his branding
can remain strong during the next six months of economic doom and gloom, there can be no limits on the scope of his political ambitions,rCY she said.

So far, Mr. Sunak has successfully distanced himself from the questions
over competence that have gathered around Mr. Johnson and much of his cabinet.

He has also avoided the culture wars regularly stirred by some of Mr. JohnsonrCOs pugilistic, pro-Brexit advisers, who seem never happier than when attacking the pillars of the establishment.

That leaves him neatly positioned as an exponent of a more competent and inclusive type of politics, an enticing package should a vacancy arise
next door on Downing Street.

rCLIn his position, you canrCOt afford to look too eager,rCY Professor Bale of
Queen Mary University of London said. rCLBut, on the other hand, you canrCOt afford to miss your moment when it comes.rCY

He is rapidly losing whatever passing popularity he might have had because of the small lock down payments RH
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