On a day given over to celebrations of Diwali, Britain's Tories celebrated the rise of Rishi Sunak to power in London.
The first non-white to take charge as Britain's prime minister, the first Hindu to have occupancy of 10 Downing Street, the first politician of Asian descent to climb to the top, the youngest British leader in more than 200 years, Rishi Sunak is certainly a man for the history books.
At a time when almost everyone conversant with the nature of western politics expected him to walk away into the wilderness following his defeat at the hands of his predecessor and his party only weeks ago, Sunak has made a dramatic comeback. Had the Conservative Party voted for him and not for Liz Truss, he would now have been working on policies he so intelligently articulated in his debates with the individual who has now made way for him.
Now that he is back in the centre of politics, leading the Tories in times when they are in absolute disarray, Rishi Sunak knows he has an in-tray which will demand the most from him, the best he can offer as prime minister. To what degree he can reassure people, through action based on enlightened leadership, that he can cause a turnaround in their fortunes remains a loaded question.
And it is that because the Conservatives have, since the Brexit referendum, been lurching from one crisis to another. For a country to have four prime ministers in six years -- and now its fifth -- is a bad reflection on its politics. The Tories, since David Cameron resigned in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, have constantly been groping in the dark. And then there has been the quixotic leadership provided by Boris Johnson through the Covid crisis, leadership which dwindled into scandal.
Truss' inability to govern was compounded by her inefficiency, reflected all too well in the so-called mini-budget so grandly announced by her chancellor of the exchequer. For Sunak, it will be a formidable task to reverse all the damage that has been done by the Tories and by his predecessors. He will need to handle inflation, a job he ought to be doing rather well given his previous experience as chancellor. But given the rise in the cost of living, from which Britons are reeling, to the extent that families have been reordering their food and related priorities, the new prime minister has a daunting job to do.
Soaring prices in the energy sector will be a grave worry for Sunak. Additionally, the problems the National Health Service is overwhelmed by, with patients having to wait for weeks and months before they can be seen and provided with treatment will exercise minds in the new cabinet. Handling immigration calls for intense and careful attention, given that in recent times a flurry of questions has arisen in the public mind about the future of those who mean to seek settlement rights in the United Kingdom.
At the same time, issues of illegal immigration will call for deft rather than harsh handling. The new prime minister will be expected to move away from such governmental insensitivity to the issue demonstrated earlier by Priti Patel and more recently by Suella Braverman. And Braverman's retention as home secretary is concerning.
For a politician untested in foreign policy, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will find that he is required to grasp the nuances of diplomacy as fast as he can. On the problems which have arisen from Brexit, with many calling for a rethink on the decision to leave the European Union and even for re-engaging with Europe, the prime minister must reassure his counterparts in the continent of his government's commitment to working with them on the critical issues of the day.
Rishi Sunak is expected to uphold his predecessors' commitment to the defense of Europe, but whether his policy will embrace the bellicosity toward Russia espoused by Johnson and Truss is a question to which answers will be expected by foreign policy experts in London. The Ukraine issue will also dominate the government's ties with Britain's allies; and Sunak will be conscious of the need to maintain the special relationship London and Washington have for decades enjoyed.
Beyond that, the Sunak government's approach to Russia will be under careful watch. Both of his predecessors preferred to abjure any need for a pragmatic diplomatic approach to Moscow, which was understandably ecstatic at Liz Truss' removal from power at Downing Street.
The Sunak administration also knows that China is a huge factor in global politics in these times. Of late, ties between Beijing and London have been on slippery ground. It will be judicious for the new prime minister to gather around him diplomats and experts able to guide him on the best means of working out a mutually productive and respectful relationship with the Chinese leadership.
With Xi Jinping having secured a new five-year term in power, Rishi Sunak would be wise to engage with him in the interest of trade and political links between the two countries. Meanwhile, defense policy is a key area for Sunak to focus on. So is education, with schools fearing a cash crunch.
On the domestic political front, the prime minister will be under relentless pressure from the opposition Labour Party to go for fresh general elections. Sunak has of course ditched the idea of new elections, as his comments before his party on Monday demonstrated only too well. But whether he can achieve enough in terms of performance, beginning now, will determine the course of British politics in the weeks ahead.
The Conservatives are a long way behind Labour in the opinion polls and if elections were held today, they would be clobbered by Keir Starmer and his team. Obviously Sunak would not want to lead his party, so soon after taking charge as Britain's leader, to a defeat at the ballot box. Which places him in the unenviable position of trying, through carefully programmed policies, to shore up public support for his party.
Sunak's goal of unifying his party, after all the battering it has gone through, will depend on how convincingly he can inform its nationwide membership and its parliamentarians that he can lead them to victory at the elections in 2024. For now, Sunak governs on the mandate obtained by Boris Johnson at the 2019 elections. The mandate has since become frayed. It is under that tattered banner that the new prime minister must work.
On the sidelines, there is the matter of Scotland, where First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has made known her intention of going for another independence referendum. For a politician whose expertise has largely been confined to finance and related economic issues, mastering politics on Scotland and the Northern Ireland protocol in light of Brexit is an imperative for Sunak.
Rishi Sunak will not have a honeymoon. Propelled to national leadership on Diwali, he will need a lamp of faith to guide Britons out of their present darkness, if at all he can. A cold winter lies ahead.
Syed Badrul Ahsan is a journalist and biographer.