The Prime Minister’s office also shared images from the event which showed Sunak lighting the traditional lamp along with his wife and later welcoming and wishing the guests…reports Asian Lite News
Ahead of Diwali, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty celebrated Diwali,the festival of lights, with members of the Hindu community gathering at his official residence in 10 Downing Street.
“Tonight Prime Minister @RishiSunak welcomed guests from the Hindu community to Downing Street ahead of #Diwali — a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness. Shubh Diwali to everyone across the UK and around the world celebrating this weekend!” Sunak’s office wrote in a post on X.
Tonight Prime Minister @RishiSunak welcomed guests from the Hindu community to Downing Street ahead of #Diwali – a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness.
Shubh Diwali to everyone across the UK and around the world celebrating from this weekend! pic.twitter.com/JqSjX8f85F
The Prime Minister’s office also shared images from the event which showed Sunak lighting the traditional lamp along with his wife and later welcoming and wishing the guests.
Last year, after becoming the first Indian-origin and first Hindu Prime Minister of the UK, Sunak pledged to do “everything I can in this job to build a Britain where our children and our grandchildren can light their diyas”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty host a reception to mark Diwali in 10 Downing Street. Picture by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street
Sunak, who hails from Punjab, has said that his Hindu faith is something very important as it gives strength and resilience during stress.
“I am a proud Hindu. That’s how I was raised, that’s how I am,” he told reporters during the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September this year.
As a Chancellor of the Exchequer during the pandemic Diwali of 2020, Sunak had lit up Downing Street with diyas.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss rose to the Conservative ranks to end up as finalists for the contest for the post of UK Prime Minister…reports Asian Lite News
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has defeated former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership race and will now be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Forty-seven-year-old Liz Truss will become the third female prime minister of the UK. She defeated Sunak through a postal ballot of all Conservative members.
The Tory leadership race was triggered after Boris Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 following a series of resignations of cabinet members, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss rose to the Conservative ranks to end up as finalists for the contest for the post of UK Prime Minister.
During nearly a dozen hustings and after a six-week long head-to-head competition, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak had explained their long-term visions for Britain. Both contenders went through bouts of 12 nationwide events with the first bout in Leeds, Northern England.
Truss indicated that she will strongly push back against “identity politics of the left” as she has envisioned the legislation for single-sex spaces such as domestic violence shelters. Sunak batted for cutting VAT to revive the country’s economic situation.
Liz Truss undertook a two-day trip to India in October last year. During her visit, she underscored the importance of partnership with India. Truss stressed that both countries should work together on the set plans for the future.
The Roadmap 2030 for India-UK future relations was launched during a virtual summit between the two countries in May last year. This Roadmap is for revitalised and dynamic connections between people, re-energised trade, investment and technological collaboration.
In another visit in March this year, Truss along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved so far concerning Roadmap 2030 and agreed to further intensify efforts to deliver results in priority areas of trade and investments, defence, and migration.
Both sides appreciated the substantial progress made in the India-UK FTA negotiations with two productive rounds completed since its launch in January 2022. (ANI)
Sunak was trailing 62% to 38% in YouGov’s poll of Conservative members, who will begin voting next week and will have time up to September 2 next to do so, reportsAshis Ray…reports Asian Lite News
Liz Truss, the incumbent caretaker Foreign Secretary in deposed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government, beat her rival Rishi Sunak, the Indian-origin former Chancellor, according to a survey of ruling Conservative party members, the electoral college to choose the winner.
Forty-seven per cent of respondents to pollster Opinium sounding them out felt Truss performed better versus 38 per cent who thought likewise about Sunak.
However, Sunak marginally defeated Truss, again according to Opinium, in a poll of regular voters who watched the debate. Thirty-nine per cent said Sunak won, while 38 per cent stated Truss did.
The debate held at Stoke-on-Trent, a town in the west midlands of England, was hot-tempered and combative in which Sunak was noticeably aggressive, often talking over his opponent.
Sunak was trailing 62 per cent to 38 per cent in YouGov’s poll of Conservative members, who will begin voting next week and will have time up to September 2 next to do so. It would appear he did not make up sufficient ground with this constituency as yet to turn the tables on Truss.
Clearly, Sunak’s strategy was to attack. Several viewers interviewed after the debate thought his constant interruptions were ‘rude’ and they sounded as if they were displeased by such behaviour. It was certainly un-British tactics.
The two contenders clashed on tax cuts — Sunak sticking to doing so later, Truss promising it will be as soon as she comes prime minister.
On British policy towards China, both agreed this should be tough. Sunak said Truss was on a ‘journey’ when it came to China, alleging she had previously argued in favour of a ‘golden age’ in the UK’s relations with the country. Ultimately, they concurred on a clampdown on companies like TikTok.
Regarding loyalty to Johnson, Sunak resigned as chancellor of the exchequer thereby precipitating Johnson’s end, while Truss remained as a caretaker foreign secretary. Both attempted to justify their opposite stances.
The debate took place against the background of the London Metropolitan Police, which fined Johnson for partying during the Covid pandemic in violation of prevalent laws, not apparently sending a questionnaire on the matter to the Prime Minister.
In effect, it did not investigate him as thoroughly as it ought to have.
On Monday, the Met, popularly known as Scotland Yard, effectively admitted in court that it had not fully probed Johnson.
The Good Law Project, a non-profit campaign group which petitioned a judicial review of the case, said: “We don’t think the Met’s response is consistent with their legal duty of candour.”
Johnson’s troubles escalated with media scoops making public last December that socialising had taken place rampantly at his office-cum-residence during the Covid lockdown.
He seems to be backing Truss rather than Sunak in the race to replace him.
Earlier, the YouGov survey also revealed that Truss extends its lead over Rishi Sunak as she gained 24-points.
Now, the two had finally announced and their summer campaign began, a new YouGov poll of Tory members suggests that Truss retains her strong advantage.
According to the survey, 31 per cent of the members intends to vote for Rishi Sunak, while 49 per cent intend to vote for Liz Truss. A further 15 per cent currently don’t know how they will vote, and 6 per cent currently tell us they will abstain.
This puts the headline voting intention at 62 per cent for Truss and 38 per cent for Sunak (i.e. after people who are currently unsure or won’t vote are excluded) – a 24-point lead for the foreign secretary.
The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 amid an avalanche of resignations of government officials, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson will continue to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.
Boris Johnson told former treasurer Peter Cruddas that he “does not want to resign” as UK prime minister and wishes he could “wipe away” his departure…reports Asian Lite News
Boris Johnson told former treasurer Peter Cruddas that he “does not want to resign” as UK prime minister and wishes he could “wipe away” his departure, The Telegraph reported on Monday.
Johnson also told Cruddas over lunch on Friday that he “wants to fight the next general election as leader of the Conservative Party,” the report said.
“There was no ambiguity in Boris’s views. He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can,” the report quoting Cruddas as saying.
Lord Cruddas told the Telegraph: “There was no ambiguity in Boris’s views. He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can.”
The peer added: “Boris thanked me for my ‘Boris on the ballot’ campaign. He said he was enjoying following it and he wished me well. He said he could understand the membership’s anger at what had happened.
“He said that he wished that he could carry on as Prime Minister. He said he does not want to resign.”
The paper said Johnson, when asked by the peer if he would “wipe away” his resignation immediately with “a magic wand”, reportedly replied: “I would wipe away everything that stops me being PM in a second.”
Lord Cruddas, who said 10,000 party members have backed the campaign, added: “He wants to carry on to finish the job. He wants to fight the next general election as leader of the Conservative Party.”
However, No. 10 said: “The Prime Minister has resigned as party leader and set out his intention to stand down as PM when the new leader is in place.”
In his final appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson said “mission largely accomplished, for now” before signing-off by telling MPs: “Hasta la vista, baby.”
The Spanish term “hasta la vista” translates to “see you later”, but “hasta la vista, baby” is the catchphrase of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg character in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Johnson’s comments left the door open for a possible comeback, with the Terminator also known for the catchphrase: “I’ll be back.”
Truss, Sunak spar over tax in TV debate
The two candidates vying to be Britain’s next prime minister sparred Monday over how to help families struggling with the soaring cost of living, meeting in a testy televised debate that highlighted the contrasting economic visions of the Conservative Party rivals.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss promised to cut taxes as soon as she took office, using borrowing to pay for it. Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said he would get inflation under control first, arguing that Truss’s plan would increase the public debt and leave people worse off in the long run.
Tempers flared as Sunak said that “it’s not moral to ask our children to pick up the tab for the bills that we’re not prepared to pay.” Truss called that “Project Fear” and said it was sensible to borrow to rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic, a “once in a 100-year event.”
The pair are battling to succeed Boris Johnson, who quit as leader of the governing Conservative Party on July 7 after months of ethics scandals triggered a mass exodus of ministers from his government. The contest has exposed deep divisions within the party as it tries to move on from the tarnished, but election-winning Johnson.
Oddsmakers say Truss is the favorite to win. She outperforms Sunak in polls of Conservative members — though Sunak has the edge among voters as a whole.
The winner will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative Party members and will automatically become prime minister, governing a country of 67 million. Party members will vote over the summer, with the result announced Sept. 5. Johnson remains caretaker prime minister until his successor is chosen.
Truss, 46, and Sunak, 42, have wooed Conservatives by doubling down on policies thought to appeal to the right-wing Tory grassroots, including a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda.
The government says the policy will deter people-traffickers from sending migrants on hazardous journeys across the Channel. Political opponents, human rights organizations and even a few Conservative lawmakers say it is immoral, illegal and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The first scheduled deportation flight was grounded after legal rulings last month, and the whole policy is now being challenged in the British courts.
Hard-line policies like the Rwanda plan are less popular with voters as a whole than with Conservatives, but the British electorate won’t get a say on the government until the next national election, due by the end of 2024.
The leadership election is taking place during a cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring food and energy prices, partly due to the war in Ukraine. While many countries are experiencing economic turbulence, in Britain it’s compounded by the country’s departure from the European Union, which has complicated travel and business relations with the U.K.’s biggest trading partner.
Both Sunak and Truss are strong supporters of Brexit, which was the signature policy of the Johnson government. Both denied Brexit was responsible for huge queues of vehicles waiting to cross to France at the port of Dover in recent days.
Sunak is running as the candidate of fiscal probity, while Truss has positioned herself as a disruptor who will “challenge orthodoxy” and “get things done.”
The two sparred on topics such as policy toward China, with Truss accusing Sunak of changing his stance on relations with Beijing.
Sunak says that China represents the “biggest-long term threat to Britain” and that if elected he would close the 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain. Funded by the Chinese government, the institutes teach Chinese language and culture, but have been accused of spreading pro-Beijing propaganda.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak leaves the Prime Minister Boris Johnson weekly Cabinet Meeting inside No10 Downing Street on his way to deliver his 2021 Budget to the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street
Previously, the favourite in a poll of Conservative party members, who will ultimately determine the choice, was Ben Wallace, presently defence secretary. He has, however, declared he will not compete, reports Ashis Ray
Rishi Sunak, of East African Indian origin, was on Monday being touted as the bookmakers’ favourite in the British Conservative party’s leadership contest. The winner will automatically become the UK’s Prime Minister.
Previously, the favourite in a poll of Conservative party members, who will ultimately determine the choice, was Ben Wallace, presently defence secretary. He has, however, declared he will not compete.
Oddscheckers’ price on Sunak was 1.6/1. The second favourite was Penny Mordaunt, minister for international trade, who had in the past been defence secretary, at 3.3/1. The third favourite was the foreign secretary Liz Truss at 4/1. Tom Tugendhat, who has no ministerial experience but is chair of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee, was quoted at 9/1; while Jeremy Hunt, a former foreign secretary, was being offered at 14/1.
Another bookmaker Skybet also had Sunak as favourite at 15/8, Mordaunt as second favourite at 7/2 and Truss as third favourite at 4/1.
The vacancy was created when the incumbent Boris Johnson lost the confidence of his party MPs after a series of scandals, and resigned on Thursday. 11 candidate have since thrown their hats into the ring. Among them, Sunak, who chancellor of the exchequer before he resigned last Tuesday, and Suella Fernandes Braverman, who is of Goan descent and is still serving as caretaker attorney general.
There are two runners of Pakistani extraction – Sajid Javid, who was health secretary in the Johnson cabinet till he led the spate of resignations on Tuesday, and Rehman Chishti, who was appointed a third tier minister in the Foreign Office after nearly 60 ministers decided not to remain in office under Johnson.
On Monday evening in London, Sir Nicholas Brady, the chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Party’s ‘1922 Committee’, which sets the rules of the race, said nominations will close on Tuesday. A candidate will need the backing of at least 20 MPs out of a total of 358 Conservative MPs to go forward. The first ballot will take place on Wednesday afternoon and the outcome revealed the same evening. Similarly, the second round is provisionally scheduled to take place on Thursday. He expected that a maximum of three rounds of balloting will be needed to whittle down the contestants to two.
The full membership of the Conservative party – estimated to be around a quarter of a million – will then choose the winner. The result will be declared on 5 September, when parliament is scheduled to return from its summer recess.
The Guardian indicated: “With just two contenders so far having the support of the 20 Tory (Conservative) MPs needed to get them on to the ballot, the remaining nine hopefuls were scrambling to shore up support by Tuesday night before knockout votes begin on Wednesday.” Sunak and Mordaunt were said to have the backing of 40 and 24 MPs respectively. Braverman is reported to have 12. A candidate will have to muster at least 30 votes in the first round to enter the second round.
Johnson will remain as lame duck premier until the election of his successor is made public. He told reporters he “wouldn’t want to damage anybody’s chances” by offering his backing to any of the candidates.
