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The UK will receive its third prime minister in a few months on Tuesday. Ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is said to have received a letter from King Charles III late in the morning. will be formally charged with forming a government, Downing Street announced Monday evening.

The Conservative Party now hopes that, after Boris Johnson’s scandalous days and Liz Truss’ short chaotic tenure, Sunak will turn around and put party and country back on track. But the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years faces enormous tasks. An overview of different construction sites and their difficulties for Sunak.

Create unity among the conservatives

Probably the most important and urgent task, but at the same time the most difficult, is for Sunak to reunite the deeply divided conservative party. The fact that Sunak was the only MP to have the required 100 supporters in the Tory group when choosing Truss’ successor is profound.

“Sunak inherits a nightmarish soup of political and economic gloom: a divided party, 12 years in power, apparently addicted to internal squabbles, bleak public finances, rising prices and a war in Europe,” the BBC responded to Sunak’s inauguration.

During his first short public appearance, Sunak also announced his intention to unite the country and the party. But that can be difficult, political scientist Mark Garnett told the German news agency. In the short term, most Tory MPs should be happy that Sunak is now a party leader “who does not seem to be temperamentally divisive”. However, there are MPs who never forgive Sunak as they accuse him of being responsible for the departure of Boris Johnson, who is popular with the party base, when he resigned in early July.

Put together a new closet

This could already be reflected in Sunak’s next task: “Sunak’s problems will start when he tries to appoint a cabinet that reflects the different currents within the party,” said expert Garnett. Because in this case, Sunak would have to fire some prominent ministers appointed by Johnson or Truss. “It will only increase the number of enemies in the faction.”

Ordinary party members are also angry because they chose Truss over Sunak in the summer and were not asked to vote. Sunak had lost the internal party battle to succeed Boris Johnson against Liz Truss last summer.

Appease the population and the opposition

Another important building site for Sunak is the general mood in the country: the frenzy among the conservatives caused discontent not only within the party, but across the country.

Of course there is pressure, especially on the part of the opposition: early parliamentary elections are being called under the leadership of the strongest opposition party, the Labor Party.

And with that, the opposition seems to have struck a chord. The opinion polling institute Ipsos found that nearly two-thirds of Britons want new elections this year. The next regular vote must take place in January 2025 at the latest. However, Sunak has already ruled out early elections, which does not necessarily defuse the tense situation. But it is understandable that Sunak is doing this as polls show the Tories are currently lagging far behind the Labourers.

further stabilize the economy

After the economic chaos caused by the Truss government under the ousted ex-Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, the decisions of his successor Jeremy Hunt ensured some stabilization of the economic situation in the country.

Yet the economic situation in the UK is anything but relaxed. Sunak will also have to make wise decisions about this. However, the first signs are good here: the economy reacted positively to the appointment of the former finance minister, who is considered a ‘steady hand’ and has been praised for his measures in the corona pandemic, among other things. During that time, he launched a program called ‘Furlough’, which is similar to short-time working and has saved countless jobs.

The president of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany (BCCG), Michael Schmidt, demanded that Sunak now present solutions to the pressing challenges of regaining the trust of the public, business and international partners. “Now three things are needed very quickly: reliability, reliability and reliability,” said Schmidt.

Finding the right tone when dealing with the EU

Last but not least, Sunak also has to do with the EU. The question is whether he can make progress in Northern Ireland in particular. Here too, the starting point is not an easy one: Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson in particular was on a collision course with the EU when it came to questions about the economic and legal framework for Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Can Sunak afford to leave a large construction site open here in the midst of all the domestic political unrest? As a precaution, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, reminded Sunak of the value of cooperation and stability. “Only together can we face common challenges…and stability is the key to overcoming them,” Michel tweeted.

Sunak plans to address the British nation at around 12.35pm (CEST) on Tuesday after his inauguration. After that, a lot of work awaits the new prime minister.

(con/sda/dpa)