30年前，保守党政治家Norman Tebbit——当时他是大规模移民的严厉批评者——提议对英国的新移民及其子女进行板球“测试”。
Tebbit在接受《洛杉矶时报》(Los Angeles Times)采访时问到，当英国亚裔观众观看英格兰与印度或巴基斯坦的比赛时，他们会为哪支球队加油?
“你还在想你从哪里来，或者你现在在哪里吗?”推论很明显:他认为，那些在体育比赛中不支持英格兰队的人既不是忠诚的臣民，也不能很好地融入英国生活。
当这位保守党大佬在南安普顿进行测试时，里希·苏纳克(Rishi Sunak)穿着长袜子和短裤，但他觉得没有必要在文化之间做出选择。周末，苏纳克和他的家人会去当地的印度教寺庙做礼拜，下午则狂热地支持英超南安普顿队。
如果英国政治在过去几周没有陷入一场闹剧，苏纳克入主唐宁街10号可能会是一个比现在更大的时刻。
他在与利兹·特拉斯(Liz Truss)的冲突中竞选首相一职，但最终失败，这距离他上台仅仅三个月，而英国的财政状况自那以来已经严重恶化。他是七年来的第五任首相。请原谅一群厌倦且越来越愤世嫉俗的选民没有被当下的形势所席卷。
现年42岁的苏纳克是自1783年的小威廉·皮特(William Pitt the Younger)以来最年轻的首相。当然，他也是第一位非白人首相。他是第一个Y世代的领导者，也是第一个《星球大战》的狂热粉丝。
对于英国庞大的亚洲人口来说，这是一个重要的里程碑，其中大多数是印度人、巴基斯坦人或孟加拉国人。这是一个缓慢的过程。多年来，苏纳克一直是保守党政府的几名南亚后裔内阁成员之一。
这位新保守党领袖的祖父建立的印度教寺庙的总统称这是“我们的巴拉克·奥巴马时刻”。
但这些事情在英国可能没有像在其他地方那样被放大。
Sunak在顶级公立学校温彻斯特学院、牛津大学、高盛集团、斯坦福大学和一家顶级对冲基金中顺利毕业。无论种族如何，这已成为一条通往政治权力的必经之路。阶级，而不是种族，似乎是英国政治的决定性因素。
苏纳克年轻时在一家咖喱店当服务员，后来开始涉足理财，为母亲的药店管理账簿。他的妻子Akshata Murty是一位住在英国的印度时装设计师，也是印度IT女继承人。
他们的总价值约为13.78亿美元。他现在必须说服英国人，经济紧缩对他们是有好处的。
在一次电台采访中，他谈到了自己作为移民的儿子的成长经历，他们的父母都是印度人，都出生在非洲。
“这种刺痛的方式真的很难解释，”他在2020年告诉BBC。“但尤其是因为我的小妹妹和我的弟弟都还很小，你知道，我只是把他们带走，把我们自己从这种情况中移开。
“我认为现在……令人惊讶的是，我无法想象今天会发生这种事。我觉得即使真的发生了，我敢打赌坐在隔壁桌的人可能会站起来说些什么。今天的英国确实值得骄傲。”
Amid the chaos of British politics, it’s easy to forget just how extraordinary the rise of Sunak has been. Good-looking, petit and well-dressed, he became an MP only seven years ago. Four years ago, he was the most junior minister in the department for local government.
His star has risen quickly as others’ have fallen. But he does not have long to take it all in.
Although he won the overwhelming backing of Conservative MPs, Sunak is a divisive figure in the party, with many supporters of Boris Johnson accusing him of undermining his premiership when he quit as chancellor in July.
He now faces a daunting in-tray, including a crisis in the public finances, high inflation, stretched public services, industrial unrest, soaring energy bills and even the possibility of blackouts in the new year.
A fiscal conservative, Sunak has vowed to “fix the economy”, and promised in a statement on Sunday: “There will be integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level of the government I lead.”
As chancellor, Sunak put up taxes to try to restore order to public finances that were stretched by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it is important to realise his political ideology is not that far away from Truss, who sent the markets tumbling with her pro-growth mini-budget which ultimately forced her to resign after just six weeks. Sunak, however, simply believed now was not the time to chase the radical growth agenda while inflation was soaring and government debt and deficit was out of control.
In just 84 seconds on Monday the new Conservative leader, who will be anointed prime minister by King Charles III on Tuesday evening Australian time, made it clear where his focus now was.
“We now need stability and unity and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together,” he said. “Because that is the only way we will overcome the challenges we face and build a better, more prosperous future for our children and our grandchildren.”
Perhaps he will get one night to reflect on his achievement because, having inherited a divided party, nation and a sick economy, he may well tomorrow regret having put up his hand.
But who does he support when England plays India at The Oval? England, of course.
“That was just a very natural thing for me to do.”