If Rishi Sunak wins an uphill battle against Liz Truss in the weeks to come, he will join the small number of black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) leaders of majority-white countries in the west. They include Barack Obama in the US, Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, who is partly of Goan descent, and Leo Varadkar, the former Irish prime minister whose father is Indian.
When Sadiq Khan became the first Muslim leader of any western capital city, it made headlines around the world. The ascent of Sunak, the son of Hindu Indian emigrants, would be an equal “milestone moment” reflecting Britain’s diversity, community groups have said.
