On Monday, President Joe Biden hailed Rishi Sunak’s selection as Britain’s first non-white prime minister as “groundbreaking” and promised to congratulate the new leader in the near future.
At a celebration of the Indian festival of Diwali at the White House, Biden remarked, “It’s fairly astonishing, a groundbreaking milestone, and it matters.”
According to the White House, Biden was following custom by waiting until after his Tuesday meeting with King Charles III to publicly congratulate Sunak, who is of Indian origin.
According to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “President Biden looks forward to meeting with… Sunak in the coming days and to our continued close cooperation with the United Kingdom.”
Sunak’s rise to prime minister comes amid political turmoil in the U.K. after Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation Thursday just after 45 days in office.
He became the Conservative Party’s leader on Monday, becoming the third prime minister to lead the nation this year.
In a brief statement last week in response to Truss’s departure, Biden reiterated his commitment to tight U.S.-U.K. cooperation. Truss became the prime minister with the shortest tenure in British history.
