British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an interview published on Saturday that the arrival of a person of color to this position for the first time demonstrates the diversity of British society.
Sunak, 42, also revealed that he refused last month to step down to allow Boris Johnson to return to power, convinced that his credentials as a former finance minister largely enabled him to deal with the current inflation spiral.
Sunak prevailed as Liz Truss’s replacement at Conservative Party affiliate consultations on October 24, the same day Hindus celebrate their traditional festival of lights, or Diwali.
Its first official event at 10 Downing Street, the seat of the British government, was the Diwali party.
said Sunak, who when he was Johnson’s chancellor decorated the entrance to his official residence, located at No. 11 on the same street, with motifs typical of this celebration.
Sunak’s ancestors, originally from Punjab in northern India, lived in East Africa before settling in the United Kingdom in the 1960s.
“As Finance Minister, I could have lit my own Dias [lámparas] Diwali at the entrance to Downing Street. It says something wonderful about our society, that it is possible, without there being anything to write about back home.”
“In a sense it was a good and wonderful thing, but also that this is simply Great Britain,” he added in his remarks to The Times.
“I hope it will be a source of collective pride across the country,” he said.
In the interview, Sunak promised that the budgets he would present in the middle of the month would be “fair”, although he admitted that he would have to make “difficult decisions” to confront the financial crisis, with rising food, energy and housing prices. the prices.
har / rox / js / mb
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