Lettuce survived longer than Liz Truss remained prime minister.
It’s a sad day when a leader is unable to outlive a piece of vegetation. Not only is it a somber day for Truss, but it is a dismal day for the people of the United Kingdom.
It should always be about the people over the politician. The people of the U.K. are grappling with a turbulent political system right now, and our sympathies should be with them. It is good Truss accepted defeat and parted ways with her position.
Rishi Sunak, a former opponent of Truss in the battle to be the Prime Minister, has assumed the role, but it is still too early to say whether he will do a great job.
Sunak is the first British Prime Minister of Indian descent, which is a huge leap for the country. Gender, race, ethnicity, or any other characteristic of the sort should not be the prime reason a person receives a position; however, society should celebrate and embrace such breakthroughs. It is great to see that anyone, with regard to race, ethnicity, creed, or gender, has the ability to take the stage and become a world leader.
I hope that Sunak can help the struggling United Kingdom, especially regarding the economy. Sunak formerly served as the finance minister, so he might be able to use his expertise to realign the country.
It is important to note, as reported by Reuters, that Sunak “set Britain on course to have its biggest tax burden since the 1950s.”
With this in mind, his expertise may not help.
Similarly, Sunak is not in touch with the general populace. Sunak is wealthy, with the Sunday Times Rich list evaluating his family’s wealth at 730 million pounds ($846 million). Wealth should not be a factor in whether or not a person will be a good leader; however, to be a strong leader, one mustn’t get out of touch with the people.
The country is facing tough economic conditions, with Reuters reporting that “The good news for new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is that few analysts now expect the pound to fall below parity with the dollar. However, a raft of strategists at investment banks have recently predicted the pound will retreat to the $1.04 to $1.10 range in the coming months, citing Britain’s economic woes, BoE [Bank of England] policy, and dollar strength.”
His predecessor couldn’t be trusted. Within 44 short days, she dealt several blows to an already struggling economy and contributed to the economic pit that Sunak is going to have to dig the U.K. out of.
According to The Washington Post, Truss’ finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, haphazardly announced tax cuts benefiting the top earners. Paired with inflation rates, this ignited a fire. Truss fired Kwarteng. Kwarteng’s replacement, Jeremy Hunt, reversed most of the tax cuts after replacing Kwarteng.
The Wall Street Journal reported in September that the Bank of England had to step in to realign the markets after a bond sell-off.
Kwarteng’s actions, however, have consequences. The British pound plummeted, the central bank had to increase interest rates, and it consequently cost more to take out a mortgage. With people already struggling, this was not ideal.
Furthermore, there were other issues with several staff members fired or leaving their jobs, and a struggle over a controversial vote on banning fracking (proposed by the Labour Party), according to The Washington Post.
Whatever the reason may be, Truss failed to lead the people properly. She did not live up to her job title and therefore resigned. It was honorable for her to resign. Truss had the worst numbers of any British political leader, with a YouGov poll showing her at a net favorability score of minus 70%, according to Politico.
If Sunak’s leadership is anything like Truss, he too will be gone faster than lettuce dies.
