With the satisfaction of those who have achieved a historic goal, on the day of August 15th, the 75th anniversary of independence, Narendra Modi had announced from the Red Fort of old Delhi that India had become the fifth world economic power. As an absolute statistic, not for GDP per capita.
But, the premier had announced, the most important thing was that India had overtaken
Great Britain.
There is no public demonstration in which Modi does not remember having left the former colonial power behind for economic growth and political stability. The relationship between India and Great Britain is unique, of love and hate depending on the occasion. But to have been overtaken by what was once the very poor “crown jewel”, should be a humiliation of those who, in Edward Elgar’s triumphal march, were the “Land of hope and glory, mother of freedom”.
Italian scenery
However, the historical humiliation is abundantly overshadowed by that denounced by the news. “The UK economy is now like Italy and Greece in terms of investor risk, and politicians have not been honest about the problems the nation faces,” writes the conservative Daily Mail, quoting a former Bank governor. of England.
There are seven million families who are unable to support the heating of their homes. An additional £ 14 billion was required for them, which the government will hardly have to find. Even with respect to the duration of the executives, Great Britain resembles Italy. From the Brexit referendum in June 2016 to today, there have been four conservative premieres: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Truss likely meteor
The latter’s leadership risks becoming one of the shortest in the history of the British monarchy. Modi should be doubly satisfied: one of the possible candidates for a quick succession to Truss is Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer of Johnson, the son of Indian emigrants. Kwasi Kwarteng, his successor, fired a month after his appointment by the premier, is the son of emigrants from Ghana. We are talking about Conservative Party politicians, not Labor. At least in this, Great Britain continues to be better than Italy: another generation will have to pass before the son of a migrant is at the political and economic top of our country.
The similarities and differences with Italy are numerous. In the Western tradition, the left spends the public money that the right creates with fiscal rigor. Today, both the British and Italian Conservatives tend to ignore the difficulties of public finances in both countries. The mini budget that he wanted to give to the rich to take away from the poor as even Margaret Thatcher had not had the courage to do, perhaps is unprecedented in the history of the Tory chancellors of the Exchequer. In the internal election campaign for the party leadership, Rishi Sunak had opposed the self-defeating model of growth that Liz Truss proposed.