THE Archbishop of Canterbury has asked people to pray for Rishi Sunak as he starts his term of office as Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak was chosen as the new leader of the Conservative Party on Monday afternoon, and became the new Prime Minister on Tuesday morning, when Liz Truss stood down after several weeks of financial and political turmoil.
After the announcement on Monday, Archbishop Justin Welby posted on Twitter: “At a time of great difficulty and uncertainty for this country, please join me in praying for Rishi Sunak as he takes on the responsibilities of leadership. May he, and all leaders of all parties, work across divides to bring unity and offer stability for those who need it most.”
In an address outside Downing Street after formally taking office, Mr Sunak said the country faced a “profound economic crisis”. He pledged to put “economic stability and confidence at the heart of this Government’s agenda”.
“I fully appreciate how hard things are,” Mr Sunak said, but concluded his first speech as Prime Minister with a plea for unity and a note of hope: “Together we can achieve incredible things.”
On Tuesday, shortly before Mr Sunak was formally invited by the King to form a government, the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Stephen Lake, posted: “My prayer today is for the new Prime Minister and for all those who make decisions of such magnitude at this time. I pray for hope and fairness, for sound govt and healthy opposition.”
Responding to the news of Mr Sunak’s victory in the leadership contest on Monday, the chief executive of the Children’s Society, Mark Russell, said “It is extraordinary to realise that this will be the third Conservative prime minister in as many months.
“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this political instability has real life consequences. People, families and children are paying the price with a lack of any targeted support for those hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis.”
Mr Russell urged the new Prime Minister to raise benefits in line with inflation, a policy to which Mr Sunak committed the Government in May when he was Chancellor, a post from which he resigned in July.
At 42, Mr Sunak is the youngest Prime Minister in more than a century. He is the first British Asian, and the first practising Hindu, to hold the highest office in government.
On Monday, the Dean of Manchester, the Ven. Rogers Govender, Tweeted: “Politics aside and despite my desire and prayer for a General Election — first Brown Prime Minister! Quite something. Other Parties and Church can do similar!”
Last week, the racial-justice officers for the diocese of Chichester, the Revd Martha Mutikani and the Revd Dr Godfrey Kesari, called on the Church of England to “embrace minority communities” and “give them much more space” in leadership roles (Comment, 21 October).
Delivering “Thought for the Day” on Radio 4’s Today Programme on Tuesday morning, the Rector of St James’s, Piccadilly, the Revd Lucy Winkett, said that “to acknowledge the UK’s first Hindu Prime Minister is a source of great significance and positivity, whatever the party politics, and to mark with gladness that a person of Global Majority Heritage, practising a faith that is followed by 1.2 billion people around the world, has become the first among equals in the British constitution.
“Given this, the very best thing that citizens of the United Kingdom, whatever their ethnicity, background or religion, can do, to honour this significant moment, is to expect the highest standards of integrity and courage,” Ms Winkett continued.
Mr Sunak took his oath as an MP on the Bhagavad Gita. In an interview with The Times in July, he said of his faith: “It gives me strength, it gives me purpose. It’s part of who I am.”
In September, Mr Sunak, who is the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire, was beaten to the leadership by Ms Truss after a vote of party members. This time, no vote was necessary, as the only other formally declared candidate — the Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt — withdrew shortly before the cut-off by which leadership hopefuls needed to have the support of 100 fellow MPs.
The former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned in July after mass resignations from the Government in the wake of a number of scandals, announced on Sunday that he would not be standing, even though, by his own account, he had enough support among MPs to do so. He had flown back from his holiday in the Dominican Republic to canvass opinion among his colleagues.
Last Thursday, in a House of Lords debate on the cost of living, the Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, exhorted whoever became Prime Minister to address child poverty as a priority.
“The well-being of the nation is now very fragile,” he said. “To the incoming Prime Minister, I say: ‘Please don’t make it worse. Do all you can to make it better. Don’t allow the costs of the economic downturn to be borne by children and the poorest. . . Blessed are those who consider the poor.”
