Name? Rishi Sunak
Westphalian identity? British
Age? 39
Why is he in the news? Sunak has officially been Chancellor of the Exchequer for 6 weeks, coming into office at quite possibly the hardest possible time. Unlike many of counterparts, Sunak has been largely praised for his tackling of the economic impacts of viral trendings.
Why do we care? Because Sunak genuinely cares. Last week he stated, “We will be judged by our capacity for compassion. Our ability to come through this won’t just be down to what government and businesses can do, but by the individual acts of kindness we show one another.” Sunak’s empathetic yet decisive tone is one many other leaders could learn from…cough cough Trump Administration…
Why should you care? Honestly, unless you’re British, you have no real reason to care about Sunak. What you should care about is what your respective ‘Chancellor of the Exchequer’ (aka finance dude) is doing in/for your country in times such as these. Are they focused on the self- and unemployed? Are they leading by example and staying home? Or are they going to work for the big businesses?
Who else cares? Good old Boris Johnson and his party as Sunak has higher approval ratings than the Prime Minister and is on track to become a future party leader for the Conservatives.
Any further comments? Considering that Sunak’s job is basically to hand out money, it’s no wonder he has such high approval ratings. What will be more interesting to follow is how he (and his ratings) fares once we are past this crisis and he most likely must withdraw much of the government support that is being freely given out at the moment. As a Conservative, Sunak should have a very interesting job presiding over such a state intervention (and subsequent withdrawal).
