We asked some of our readers what they thought of Rishi Sunak, the new Prime Minister for the UK.

For some, focus was on his ethnicity. 46 year old Prafula feels angry when people show pride for Rishi as a person of Asian heritage saying people like him, “are all white people, they just have a brown coating.” In comparison, Nikki said she was happy simply because Rishi was Indian but for Neha the answer was more layered, “people keep focusing on the fact that he’s asian and whilst that is an achievement, it does not take away from the fact that he has a serious job to do. People are choosing between feeding their kids and heating their homes, his race doesn't matter - can he save us from the ruin his party created?”

For others, it was a question of trust, especially given his background. “He is an accurate representation of the elitist, classist and wealthy south Asians who have forgotten what it means to come to a new country and feel othered,” shared Sahil. Jain agreed, saying, “he went to private school, married rich and has no working class friends. He’s very detached from reality - like the situation where very expensive mugs were served to the waiting press outside his house.”

Beyond his wealth and race though, opinions strayed to his political work thus far. Jai said: “people may hate him for his tax raises but what other choice was there after he gave away so much money during the height of the pandemic? People loved him then and called him dishi Rishi, but where did they think this money was going to come from?” But said his brother Rohan, “his struggle won’t be the economics or the policy work. it will be winning the support of a public that is whether they admit it or not, systemically, inherently, is racist and biased against him.”

Shalini feels he lacks personality but shared that her husband had said, “if we keep looking for personality then we keep ending up with Boris Johnsons”. For Sonia, the key point is that “nobody voted for him, he shouldn’t feel proud - he was just the only option left. But I do think he’ll last. I’m curious to see how he goes about it and whether the Tories will win the next general election or not.”

In our Instagram story poll asking readers how they felt about the news, the highest votes response was: I’m just amazed at the timing as its Diwali!