In this moment, I am actually grateful for Rishi Sunak. I may not agree with his politics but I really appreciate the fact that he is the quietest prime minister we’ve had since Theresa May. I may be out of the loop but as I hunted for stories to appear as part of the news roundup for BBC radio, I realised I had seen more of our former health minister Matt Hancock than I had of one of the most powerful men in the country.
What I find particularly interesting is that Sunak finds himself in a position that is very familiar if you’re a senior person of colour. For the last decade or so, those in power have led us into war, Brexit and a recession with news stories constantly flying around on the internet that 2023 will be the toughest year financially. Rishi – like other Conservative candidates – threw his hat in the ring to become Prime Minister post Boris Johnson’s reign of secrets, lies and controversy. The latter Conservative actually came out unscathed due to a carefully cultivated ‘lovable rogue’ persona that even had him considering re-entering the race to become Prime Minister despite being ousted after large swathes of his cabinet resigned siting a loss of confidence in his leadership. Thankful he spared us and rethought that decision.
Rishi campaigned in a way that had me wondering if he was switching sides to Labour as he focussed on the people in a way that felt a stark contrast to his peers in recent years. On paper he was the perfect blend: rich, a former senior leader in the party having been Boris’ chancellor but also had the messages to serve the people and make sure we ride through the recession and the ongoing pandemic together. He was charismatic – kinda – and gave a warmth when shown on screen in conferences. He lost. The Conservatives would never actively vote in an Asian man – those of us from the global majority (I love these words) knew that from the outset but you know. The lesser of two evils was to elect a woman, Liz Truss, who went on to be the shortest serving prime minister in the history of this country.
45 days or so later Rishi – by default – became the first person of colour to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He made an extremely short speech and then…went quiet. Bar an official photo of him and his wife and daughters, Rishi is not out here dominating the headlines. Videos of him dancing on state visits or in nightclubs are not surfacing as it has done for the last two female prime ministers. There’s no grainy footage of the health minister grabbing ‘the bunda’ in his office whilst everyone was sheltering. No press tours of him shaking hands to prove the pandemic isn’t real. Just pure silence.
This was amplified by the fact that Matt Hancock has just spent several weeks in the jungle for ITV’s I‘m A Celebrity, not only earning a massive paycheck – reportedly £400k – but executing what feels like an excellent PR strategy by ‘showing the people the real me’ which led to him coming out of the jungle in third place. The clips that I saw of I’m A Celeb felt highly contrived and a carefully curated strategy to re-establish Hancock as ‘one of us’. With another television appearance in the pipeline and a new book currently being serialised in a national newspaper – which reads like ‘I was swept away by love and everyone supported me even if they didn’t say anything publicly’, more strategy shaped in 10,000 or so words – he is well on his way to challenge for the position of leader of The Conservative Party when a new opportunity occurs.
I’m actually hopeful that Rishi’s silence means that he’s doing what the last four prime ministers haven’t done: the actual work. Now yes, he doesn’t have an unknown entity like the emergence of an global pandemic to deal with – though as comedian Trevor Noah says Africa leaders managed it far better than the rest of the world #AfricaPride – but he’s also not showboating for the media. We know that elections are really a popularity contest more than policy and at some point Rishi will need to do public engagement but for now he seems to be doing what a true leader should – focus on evaluating where you are and getting a lay of the land so you know what’s a priority to fix.
But here’s the crux of what has compelled me to write about people I don’t care that much about: We’re about to publicly witness what often happens to people of colour when asked to pick up the pieces after a sh*tshow. A common phenomenon for people of colour is that when an organisation goes through a period of turmoil or has a challenge the pathway to lead the charge suddenly becomes wide open.
The outcomes can be one of two things: you successfully create change and then are bullied out of the role now there’s only glory on the horizon or you become the scapegoat for not being able to make fundamental long term changes in a matter of months. In Rishi’s case it will be the economy and the cost of living crisis. With the ongoing strikes and the price of basic items rising before our eyes it is a very real priority for those of us who aren’t married to multimillionaires. The Disney in me hopes that Rishi succeeds in making some fundamental decisions that put us on the road to recovery. Whether he’ll fare in his position when a general election is finally called though is questionable. It would be remiss to think that there aren’t inner party politics and expectations that Rishi has to adhere to to keep everyone onside. Unlike any predecessor that has ever held this post, Rishi has an extra layer of weight on his shoulders: his race.
As consistently demonstrated by the general public and press when Black players on the England football team miss a goal, you’re only loved so long as you’re doing what is expected of you. Believe that’s only in football? Besides the lived experience of the majority of Black people I can give you another public unabaited example of this in three words: Meghan and Harry.
I’m convinced I just heard you in my corner of South East London. The sound was either in a groan because you’re tired of hearing about them, a moan because you think they are desecrating the sanctity of the monarchy and brought this drama on themselves or a knowing ‘hmmmm’ because you see where I am going with this. Meghan is the perfect example of when it’s fine when you’re the girlfriend but then you became the wife and all hell broke loose. Their two volume docuseries Harry and Meghan is out tomorrow on Netflix, a deal pulled together by hard cash and bitter negotiations. I use Harry and Meghan as an example of how those on the receiving end of racial bias are always left in a position to prove themselves even in the face of evidence. The unexpected release of the trailer not only landed fabulously during Kate and William’s visit to the US for his charity Earthshot (Congratulations to the PR team) but they were blessed with the gift of Lady Hussey asking that age old and boring question reserved for people of colour ‘No, where are you really from?” to domestic abuse charity boss, Ngozi Fulani at an event at the palace.
I think Meghan and Harry’s constant going against the grain by speaking their truth has jarred factions of the British public who are committed to the institution even if it’s purpose in 2022 is a little unclear. – I doubt its helped by Meghan’s juicy talking head shot to camera in the trailer where she asks “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?”. This made me cackle out loud gleefully at the promise of the juice that may follow.
Here you have consistent evidence of racial bias not only coming from Meghan’s perspective but directly from Harry himself who, in my opinion is unfairly seen as either dim or lovestruck as if he is a blind accomplice to Meghan’s status grabbing aspirations. A real 180 when you consider Harry has always had the public persona of being quite rebellious so much so that we in the Black community had spotted long ago that Harry liked Black women, probably before the royals did.
Unlike Matt Hancock, The Sussexes have never been given the grace to tell their story or a serialisation in a newspaper (though I am happy to be corrected on the latter. I doubt it as they’re constantly suing the British press) but here in lies what is the golden thread for everything I have spoken to here: When you’re a person of colour, redemption is not afford to you in the public eye even when independent evidence of your experience presents itself.
So I wait to see what Rishi comes out with in the new year and his overall approach to his relationship with the public. Despite our opposing sides I wish him every success as he represents all of us who are ‘othered’ through the outcome of his leadership.
