What's next for Rishi Sunak after losing his shot at being UK’s new prime minister?

The hopes of seeing an Indian-origin person at 10 Downing Street were dashed on Monday when former United Kingdom Chancellor Rishi Sunak was defeated by Liz Truss to be named the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest and become the next prime minister of UK.

Of the 170,000 votes, Truss received 81,326 votes, compared with Sunak’s 60,399. Liz Truss won 57 per cent of the votes, making the winning margin less than pollsters had predicted. But a winning margin of 20,000 or so was still substantial for Truss.

Also read: UK gets new PM: Why Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss

Truss will be the UK’s fourth Conservative prime minister in six years, entering Downing Street following Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron.

Shortly after the result was announced by the returning officer of the leadership contest and chair of the Conservative Party’s powerful 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, Sir Graham Brady, at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre near Downing Street, Rishi Sunak took to Twitter to thank everyone who voted for him.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign.

I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family.

It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times.

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) September 5, 2022

The former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak after accepting his defeat against Liz Truss said he is staying in politics.

“I’m now going to be focussed on supporting my constituents first and foremost in North Yorkshire and continuing to be their member of Parliament as long as they’ll have me and giving Liz Truss my full support as the new Conservative government gets on with grappling with the challenges ahead of us now,” the former minister said, responding to questions about his future plans.

Speaking to the BBC, Sunak added, “I don’t plan on going anywhere. It’s a real privilege to be their MP. There’s lots I can continue… I hope to deliver for them and that’s what I plan on doing.

After tasting defeat in the race, we take a better look at the options Sunak has — will he join Truss’ Cabinet, will he continue electoral life? Here are all the possibilities, decoded.

A seat in Truss Cabinet

Liz Truss is expected to unleash a complete shake up of outgoing leader Boris Johnson’s top team.

There has been speculation that Sunak could be the next health secretary under the new Truss regime.

This speculation was further fuelled when Liz Truss said she would “love” Sunak to be part of her team if she won.

However, when asked by BBC if he would accept a position, he responded: “"It is just not something I'm thinking about.”

Sunak’s reluctance to be a part of the Truss Cabinet comes from the fact that during the campaign, the two candidates strongly disagreed on each other's economic proposals.

“One thing I have reflected on a bit being in government and cabinet is you really need to agree on the big things because it’s tough I found if you don’t, I wouldn’t want to get into a situation like that again,” he was quoted as saying.

An ally of the Rishi Sunak was quoted by Sky News as saying: “These aren’t small differences, he has called Liz’s economic plans immoral… it would be pretty hard for him to come out on the morning round and defend her now.”

Traditionally, in British politics, unsuccessful leadership contenders have been offered posts. However, it seems probable that it won’t be the case this time around.

Race to Tory leadership… again?

While Sunak almost ruled out taking up a position in the Truss team, he remained ambiguous about standing in a future leadership race.

When asked on by BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if he would run for the Tory leadership again, the 42-year-old said: “We’ve just finished this campaign. I’d say… I need to recover from this one. But I look forward to supporting the Conservative government in whatever capacity.”

When pressed on whether he would commit to standing at the next general election, Sunak said, “I literally just said, I was with my own members.”

"It’s presumptuous for me to say because I have to get selected by my own members. But I was with them on Friday night and it’s been a great privilege to represent them. And I know I can do good work for them,” he said.

A rebel on the backbenches

Rishi Sunak has said that he would “always support a Conservative government” but there are some who believe that he will be a thorn to Liz Truss, just as Boris Johnson was to Theresa May after quitting her Cabinet.

For those who are unaware, backbenchers are MPs or members of the House of Lords that are neither government ministers nor from the Opposition. They are so called because, in the Chamber, they sit in the rows of benches behind their parties’ spokespeople who are known as frontbenchers.

Enjoying support from several Tories, Sunak could be an obstruction for Liz Truss, with Sky News reporting that there are suggestions that he would vote down her budget.

Life outside politics?

While campaigning to be the next UK prime minister, a report had said that if Sunak loses the polls, he would head to America where he has long-standing links and pursue a life outside of politics.

Incidentally, Rishi Sunak held a US green card — allowing permanent residence in that country — until October last year.

A senior MP had been quoted as saying, “He’s got plenty of opportunities should he be inclined to look elsewhere for gainful employment. I should have thought that is what he will do.”

Sunak before he joined politics worked at Goldman Sachs as an analyst between 2001 and 2004.

However, Sunak has refuted claims of resigning from politics, saying to the Sunday Times, “you must be joking” when asked if he could return to America, where he had lucrative work before becoming an MP and still owns a property.

“It is the most unbelievable privilege to have these jobs,” he added. “The people of Richmond are the most amazing people, it is a joy every week to go home to them and to have their love and their support and to be able to represent them properly as their member of Parliament.

“Gosh, it would take a lot for me to give that up.”

With inputs from agencies

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