“It is right to begin by congratulating the Prime Minister on his decisive victory in the election. He deserves the goodwill of all of us in this House as he takes on the most demanding of jobs in the increasingly uncertain world in which we now live,” said Rishi Sunak in his speech as the new UK Opposition Leader, having switched sides in the House of Commons after his Conservative Party’s defeat in the July 4 General Election.
“The party opposite has successfully tapped into the public’s desire for change but they now must deliver change and we on this side of the House will hold them accountable for delivering on the commitments they made to the British people. In the national interest, we will not oppose for the sake of it but when we disagree with the government it is our responsibility as the Opposition to say so,” said the British Indian leader, who is serving as interim Tory chief until a successor is elected by his party.
But before taking his place on the backbenches as a North Yorkshire member of Parliament, Sunak used his intervention following the King’s Speech which marked the State Opening of Parliament this week to offer some light-hearted advice to the new incumbent of 10 Downing Street.
"Life comes at you fast. Soon you might be fortunate enough to be tapped on the shoulder and offered a junior ministerial role. Then, you'll find yourself attending Cabinet, then in the Cabinet. And then when the prime minister's position becomes untenable, you might end up being called to the highest office… before you know it, you have a bright future behind you and you are left wondering if you can credibly be an elder statesman at the age of 44," he joked.
Sunak was appointed a junior minister in the UK Treasury and soon promoted as the first British Indian Chancellor of the Exchequer by former prime minister Boris Johnson. Following the partygate scandal and predecessor Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership, he took over as the country’s first British Indian prime minister on Diwali Day in October 2022.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who won a landslide victory in the election earlier this month, thanked his predecessor for a gracious start to a new parliamentary calendar for the Labour Party government.
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“We are all responsible for the tone and standards that we set, and I want to thank the right honourable gentleman in every exchange that we had since the election, and in his words today, he has gone well beyond the usual standards of generosity, and I thank him for that,” said Starmer.
He then proceeded to declare: “This is a new era. We are turning a page, returning politics to service, because that is what the people of this country want to see from their politicians, and service is a stronger bond than political self-interest.”