Rishi Sunak Woos Indian Community

IMAGE: Rishi Sunak, who trails Liz Truss in the Conservative leadership race, speaks at a Conservative Friends of India event at the Dhamecha Lohana centre in Harrow, London on Monday, August 22, 2022. All Photographs: Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters

IMAGE: Sunak, the former chancellor of the British exchequer, received an unexpected endorsement last week from Michael Gove, the influential Tory who led the Brexit campaign along with Boris Johnson.

IMAGE: Sunak's supporters expect him to pull a Brexit-like surprise on Truss -- Britain's current foreign secretary -- when the votes are counted next week.
Translated, that means no one expected Britain to vote to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum, but it did. Likewise, no one expects Sunak to defeat Truss, but who knows?

IMAGE: Sunak's chances are said to have been hurt by the revelation earlier this year that his wife Akshata Murty, an Indian citizen, enjoyed non domicile status in Britain and did not pay taxes on her income.
Even though a House of Commons inquiry cleared Sunak and his wife -- whose parents are best-selling author Sudha Murty and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy -- of any wrong doing, Tory voters don't seem to have forgiven Rishi.

IMAGE: Sunak meets members of the audience after delivering his speech.

IMAGE: The wealthy Sunak has been portrayed as being out of touch with Britain's current economic reality, wearing, for instance, Prada shoes that costs 400 pounds to a building site.

IMAGE: If he beats the odds and defeats Truss, Sunak will succeed Boris Johnson -- who is said to dislike him -- as Britain's first prime minister of colour.

IMAGE: Audience members film Sunak as he speaks at the event.