"Ring Time Depth" and "Leadership Crisis" have invaded British politics, can Sunak help Britain get through the crisis?

Source: Global Times

On October 24, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak was automatically elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party as the only candidate. He will become Britain's fifth prime minister in six years. Although Sunak is the youngest prime minister and the first non-white prime minister in British history, his four "predecessors" have been called the "worst prime ministers" after World War II or in history before and after stepping down. Relevant polls show that as the pace of changing leaders in the United Kingdom is getting faster and faster, the support rating of several prime ministers has shown a continuous downward trend in recent years. There is a view that the UK is experiencing a leadership crisis with deep political and social contexts. So, can Sunak help Britain through this crisis?

"The worst since World War II" became a label

The pound fell to record lows against the dollar, the stock market plunged, the Bank of England was forced to invest £65 billion to "save" people's pensions – after Truss announced her resignation, the British media summed up her 45 days in office. As for her influence on the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom, British magazines such as The New Statesman and Unherd said she had further contributed to the decline of the Conservative Party, abandoned the party's tradition of pragmatism, undermined the party's good image in governing the economy and made Britain a global laughingstock.

A survey published by YouGov showed that before announcing his resignation on October 20, Truss's net approval rating (approval minus disapproval) had fallen to -70%, lower than Johnson, who had previously been named Britain's "worst prime minister" after World War II (-36%). In addition to the "Metro Newspaper", "New Statesman" magazine, "Sunderland Echo" and other British media have also published articles, calling Truss the "worst prime minister" in British history.

Notably, because of Truss's poor governing performance, Johnson's net approval rating in mid-October has risen by 17 percentage points compared to when he announced his resignation in July. Although Johnson led the Conservative Party to a majority in the lower house of parliament in the 2019 general election, completed the "Brexit", and led the people to deal with the two major crises of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, his shortcomings are also difficult to ignore: inciting divisions, deliberately violating domestic and international law, shielding subordinates who commit evil deeds...

In addition to Truss and Johnson, Cameron and Theresa May were also named the "worst prime minister" in British post-World War II or history by some media before and after stepping down. On June 7, 2019, May resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Earlier, the British "Guardian" published an article calling her the worst British prime minister since North in the late 18th century. The United States declared independence when North was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Great Britain. In June 2021, the University of Leeds surveyed 93 scholars of British politics and contemporary history at 44 universities across the UK. They tied May and Eden as Britain's "worst prime minister" after World War II. Theresa May received this title for a number of reasons, including not completing Brexit while in office; an unnecessary general election was held, which cost the Conservatives their majority in Parliament; appointing Johnson as foreign secretary to further isolate Britain in the world; waging a "culture war" in the UK; During his tenure, child poverty rates soared to a 30-year high, housing crises intensified, and violent crime soared.

The holding of the "Brexit" referendum and the resulting xenophobia and increasingly hardline government policies are important reasons why the website of the French magazine "Historian" compares Cameron to former British Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Eden. The magazine believes that Cameron let Britain begin to fall into a "bottomless abyss". With his foil, Chamberlain and Aiden no longer look so hateful. Although Chamberlain's policy of appeasement towards Hitler proved wrong, there is no evidence that he was able to turn the tide and avoid the outbreak of World War II. Britain suffered the Suez Crisis during Aiden's tenure, an event that was humiliating but "not very hurtful".

A survey released in August by pollster Ipsos Group found that 49 percent of respondents believed Johnson was the worst of Britain's leaders since World War II, followed by Theresa May (41 percent) and Cameron (38 percent). The British prime minister's approval rating is not only getting lower and lower, but his time in power is also getting shorter and shorter. Cameron has been in office for more than 6 years, May and Johnson for 3 years, and Truss for only 45 days.

To make matters worse, in addition to the prime minister, the quality of members of the British Parliament raises concerns. Stewart, the former British secretary of state for international development, recently wrote in the Financial Times. A former "insider", he said that even under Cameron or Brown, capable MPs would be ignored and some of the most arrogant, unreliable and uneducated MPs would be promoted.

Labour also has leadership problems. While the party's public approval rating is now over 50%, many Britons will not forget that former Labour leader Corbyn's net approval rating also fell to -55% in 2019. Although the Labour Party claims to represent the interests of the grassroots, the British also have to admit that today's Labour Party is no longer the Labour Party of the eighties and nineties. Starmer, the current leader of the Labour Party, was once the Brexit spokesman in Corbyn's shadow cabinet. Traditionally, Labour has advocated Britain remaining within the EU, but Starmer has been criticised for taking office. In order to cater to "Brexit" voters, he also became a "Brexit" faction, much to the disappointment of supporters.

More and more people are dissatisfied with the British political system, and trust in politicians is getting lower and lower. According to a survey conducted by Gallup in 1944, 35% of respondents in Britain believe that politicians are only in politics for themselves; 22% of respondents said politicians would put partisan interests first. At the same time, 36% of respondents believe that politicians are mainly focused on advancing the national interest.

Seventy-seven years later, the Institute for Public Policy (IPPR), a British think tank, investigates the same topic. The latest survey results show that 63% of British respondents believe that politicians are only in politics for personal gain; Only 5% believe that politicians run for office in the national interest.

Ignoring popular opinion may be one of the reasons why Britons have less trust in government. Pallock, who sells lights in London, is a generation born after the end of World War II. Nearly 80 years old, he lamented that it was the most difficult time of his life. "The UK's indirect involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is getting deeper and deeper, the financial crisis is on the verge of breaking out, and the government is constantly introducing various 'suicidal' policies... As for what the state should do and what it can do, a couple of people decided in the Cabinet Office, why didn't anyone ask us? ”

The IPPR warns that if steps are not taken to increase trust in politicians, the UK could be trapped in a vicious circle in which government performance worsens, leading to an increasingly "crotch-pulling" economy, which in turn weakens public services and increases inequality, which in turn leads to rising populism, greater polarization and more corrupt government.

Train political stars, not statemakers

The frequent change of prime ministers and the constant resignation of officials have caused farce in British politics, and behind this is the problem of the British system. Li Guanjie, a think tank researcher at the Center for British Studies at the Shanghai Institute of Global Governance and Regional Country Studies at Shanghai Chinese University, said that the United Kingdom originally practiced indirect democracy, but in recent years, the direct democratic form of referendum has been continuously used in the decision-making of major British affairs.

Although Truss is now in the dilemma of "the wall falling down and everyone pushing it", she is also the leader of the party elected by most Conservatives this summer. The declining approval rating of the British prime minister has been attributed by some to personal competence. However, facts in recent years have shown that whoever owns 10 Downing Street will continue to decline in support.

Claes, an associate professor at University College London and a contributor to The Atlantic, said that to solve the problem, it was first necessary to know why Britain had elected so many unworthy people in power. He believes that whether it is a campaign or a promotion, Britain is to let candidates chase power, rather than those who are capable, which makes it difficult to guarantee the quality of candidates. Klaas argues that Britain should devise mechanisms that produce good leaders, rather than hoping that they will appear in a vacuum. It is unclear whether such a mechanism will emerge anytime soon. A Global Times reporter chatted with a number of young members of the Conservative Party at its annual meeting. They said what they wanted to learn most from former party leaders such as Cameron was the ability to "fight with words" in parliament, not the ability to govern the country.

Stewart, the former secretary of state for international development, believes that Britain's political parties and election system have led to unsuitable people such as Johnson becoming the country's leaders. He explained that the Conservatives spent decades grooming Johnson step by step as a political star, rather than a capable leader. In the process, they were well aware of Johnson's shortcomings, but chose to turn a blind eye to them for the sake of votes. Stewart stressed that the Conservative Party and the British political culture as a whole needed to be reshaped. Politicians can no longer expect to stand in front of voters wearing a "mask of hypocrisy" and take it off when elected.

Wang Shuo, a professor at the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Chinese University, believes that British leaders and many parliamentarians have rich resumes, but they have made a mess when governing the country, which exposes the problem of the British political system and party system, that is, candidates cannot truly represent the opinions and interests of the people after taking office. Take Truss, for example, whose tax cuts cater to the preferences of the wealthy, represented by Conservative Party members, who are only about 0.3% of the total number of British voters and are not representative. In addition, the political polarization in the United Kingdom has intensified since Brexit, whether it is between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, or between various factions within the Conservative Party, there are frequent "fights" for power, resulting in "political idling" and a high degree of social division. Against this backdrop, each party is increasingly polarizing its ideas in order to win votes, leading to extreme and unstable policies.

The leadership crisis is not just a problem for the UK. According to the British "Times" reported a few days ago, some Western countries, including the United States, are also experiencing similar crises. In the United States, for example, President Biden's approval rating has been hitting new lows during his tenure, while his deputy Harris has an even lower approval rating. Trump's approval rating is not high, but no one in the Republican Party can stand out. In 2024, Americans are likely to choose their president between Trump and Biden, two people who are not popular with most voters.

Zhang Jian, director of the European Institute of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the unreasonable electoral system has made it increasingly difficult for Western countries to elect qualified leaders. People in the West have deeply realized that no matter which party or leader is in power, the people cannot get substantial benefits from them, so they can only "try another person" in constant elections. Wang Shuo said that the UK's leadership crisis is a microcosm of the dysfunction of the entire Western democratic system, but the "Brexit" dilemma has amplified the existing problems and contradictions in the UK. Indeed, political struggles have intensified in many Western countries, with politicians no longer concerned with whether policies bring benefits to the population, but rather pandering to the needs of specific groups.

On 24 October, Sunak was automatically elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party. The view is that the Indian-Conservative needs to prove to the party that he is the one who can save Britain from chaos. However, Wang Shuo said that Britain's leadership crisis is caused by its political system, which has led to the country's inability to find a solution to the country's fundamental problems even if it changes leaders, but will deepen the gap between the people and the elite, making the people's expectations of the government and political figures lower and lower, until they are disappointed.