The UK has seen its third Prime Minister in seven weeks. The newly appointed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak witnessed two of his predecessors step down from their roles amid widespread criticism. He needs to undo the damage that has led to a divide within the Conservative Party. At the helm of the nation, he will also need to navigate issues including inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis in Europe. Elected after a swift leadership bid, Sunak has pledged to focus on “stability and unity”.

Truss stated her intent to step down on October 20. Thus began the second Conservative leadership bid to find her successor, discounting the Labor Party’s calls for a general election. Support for the Conservative Party nosedived during Truss’s term, making the leadership contest a necessary political choice. Unlike the leadership bid that put Liz Truss into office, where candidates could elaborate on their policies, its October counterpart ended quickly. Boris Johnson dropped out on October 23 due to the impossibility of “govern[ing] effectively” without a “united party in Parliament”. The remaining candidate Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt withdrew, failing to obtain the minimum 100 nominations. Thus, Sunak entered Downing Street on October 25 as the first UK Prime Minister of Indian descent, and as the youngest person to take the post in 200 years.

Sunak is no stranger to dire economic conditions, having been Britain's finance minister (known as Chancellor of the Exchequer) during the pandemic. He received praise for the pandemic furlough scheme that focused on public spending, allocating over 68.5 billion GBP to protect jobs. However, he had his missteps — enabling fraud for the stimulus schemes and introducing the “Eat Out to Help Out” program that led to a COVID surge. In addition, he now faces a different economic landscape where inflation rates have climbed, the economy is slowing down, and the government’s borrowing costs are rising, not to mention the need to counter the aftereffects of Truss’s policies. The lost fiscal credibility will take time to recover, though Sunak has some breathing room from the market’s trust in him. After his appointment, both the pound and government bonds rose.

While Sunak still bears responsibility for the country’s economy, the task of reviving Britain’s financial situation largely falls on Jeremy Hunt, the new Chancellor. Hunt attained his position during Truss’s term, put in place to overturn his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s controversial policies. Reinstated by Sunak, Hunt is set to deliver a fiscal statement by November 17, delayed from the original schedule of October 31. Decreased public spending and higher taxes are expected, and whether Sunak will take up on his promise to increase pensions, benefits, and tax credits alongside inflation remains to be seen. The new schedule gave the Bank of England no promises for setting its new interest rate. On November 3, it announced a hike in interest to the highest in 33 years: a whopping 3%. Though the new rate is likely lower than what Truss’s policies would have required, a high interest rate adds to the burden of government debt. Sunak faces difficult decisions in balancing monetary and fiscal policy between recession and inflation concerns, as tightening policies risk suppressing economic growth. One dilemma lies in whether or not to continue energy subsidies after next April, since ending these subsidies according to plan would hike up energy bills and make inflation surge.

Following four Conservative PMs who failed to complete their terms from various scandals, Sunak was a safe choice for the party. Yet it will take more to restore the support for Conservatives before the 2024 or 2025 general elections. Other than the economy, the new Prime Minister inherits many of the issues that Truss faced. He will have to tackle a backlogged National Health Service, to which he proposed a 10 GBP fine for missing appointments. The Northern Ireland Protocol will be another such issue, having led to instability in the region. Sunak also needs to lead an unstable Conservative Party armed only with austerity policies, which are generally unpopular. To his credit, he has already taken on the task of uniting the fractured party, having included members with differing political views in his cabinet including former competitor Mordaunt. However, some Johnson loyalists still blame Sunak for triggering the series of departures that forced out the former prime minister. Issues regarding his cabinet appointments are also ongoing: Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of data security violations and unsafe conditions for asylum-seekers, while former cabinet minister Sir Gavin Williamson faced his third removal from office on November 9 amid claims of bullying.

Sunak has no more room to slip up. To guide Britain out of its problems, he needs to make a fractured Conservative Party stand behind his policies. The policies themselves may have unintended consequences, with the tightening economic policies possibly setting off a loop of slower growth and even more stringent measures. However, Truss’s disastrous term in one way makes his job easier, because Conservatives have no choice but to support Sunak in an attempt to recover public opinion. As the slowly recovering economic metrics and support for the Conservative Party show, it will take more than one failed appointment to ruin the UK.