British South Asian Political Conservatisms: The Brown Tory

The UK Conservative partyConservative party leadership contest in 2022 consisted of predominantly ethnic minority candidates. The first British-born Conservative party leader and prime minister of South Asian (and Hindu) heritage, Rishi Sunak, was appointed in October 2022 after a short and tumultuous turn in leadership by Liz Truss. This chapter will discuss the contemporary phenomenon of the ‘Brown Tory’ in relation to discussions in previous chapters regarding the social mobility trajectories and socio-political identity frameworks of British-born South Asians, particularly Indians. This chapter will argue that not only the ethnoracial background, but the ‘South Asianness’ of these politicians is significant to the political ideologies, discourse and identity of the Conservative party and the changing landscape of British and transnational politics.