{"id":88774,"date":"2024-07-06T02:33:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T02:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/06\/sunak-defends-record-in-last-speech-as-prime-minister\/"},"modified":"2024-07-06T02:33:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T02:33:06","slug":"sunak-defends-record-in-last-speech-as-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/06\/sunak-defends-record-in-last-speech-as-prime-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunak Defends Record in Last Speech as Prime Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/08\/04\/multimedia\/04uk-blog-sunak-speech-hlgc\/04uk-blog-sunak-speech-hlgc-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sunak Defends Record in Last Speech as Prime Minister\" title=\"Sunak Defends Record in Last Speech as Prime Minister\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rishi Sunak addressed the nation for the last time on Friday as Britain\u2019s prime minister, apologizing for his failings and accepting responsibility for his Conservative Party\u2019s catastrophic election performance but defending his economic record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry,\u201d said Mr. Sunak in a brief but dignified statement in Downing Street. \u201cI have heard your anger, your disappointment. And I take responsibility for this loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The outgoing leader spoke for about four minutes, with his wife, Akshata Murty, looking on. He then began the short journey to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to King Charles III.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The election defeat is a seismic political moment in Britain, ending 14 years of Conservative government. Mr. Sunak said he would step aside as leader of his party \u2014 but only once formal arrangements to choose his successor are in place. He remains a lawmaker, having won re-election to his parliamentary seat in Yorkshire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Criticized by some colleagues for calling the general election earlier than expected, Mr. Sunak acknowledged his failures both to the Conservative Party and to the nation. But he also defended his record, arguing that inflation had fallen, economic growth had returned and Britain had enhanced its standing in the world in the less than two years he was prime minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m proud of those achievements,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe this country is safer and more secure than it was 20 months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He also praised his successor, Keir Starmer, whom he called a \u201cdecent, public-spirited man who I respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIn this job, his successes will be all our successes, and I wish him and his family well,\u201d Mr. Sunak said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The statement marks the end of the political road, at least for now, for the 44-year-old former hedge fund manager who enjoyed a meteoric rise in public life. Mr. Sunak entered Parliament in 2015 and served as chancellor of the Exchequer during the coronavirus pandemic, when he offered generous financial support to keep workers in employment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is a difficult day at the end of a number of difficult days but I leave this job honored to have been your prime minister,\u201d Mr. Sunak said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He offered a personal note, saying that he was proud to have been Britain\u2019s first prime minister of Hindu faith.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOne of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister and that I could watch my two young daughters light Diwali candles on the steps in Downing Street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/05\/world\/europe\/sunak-speech-prime-minister-election.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rishi Sunak addressed the nation for the last time on Friday as Britain\u2019s prime minister, apologizing for his failings and accepting responsibility for his Conservative Party\u2019s catastrophic election performance but defending his economic record. \u201cTo the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry,\u201d said Mr. Sunak in a brief but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/08\/04\/multimedia\/04uk-blog-sunak-speech-hlgc\/04uk-blog-sunak-speech-hlgc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2449,2124,8088,1541,509,1031],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88776,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88774\/revisions\/88776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}