Why Is Rishi Sunak Laughing?

IMAGE: Rishi has a laugh during the debate. Photograph: Jacob King/Pool/Reuters

IMAGE: Liz Truss, the British foreign secretary, currently leads Rishi by a wide margin in the race.
Conservative party members will vote all of August to decide who will lead their party and succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister. Photograph: Jacob King/Pool/Reuters

IMAGE: Liz seems startled by a point Rishi is making during the debate.
Some columnists believe Rishi -- who has promised a return to 'traditional Conservative economic values' and says he will cut taxes only after inflation is under control -- is cast in the mould of Conservative party icon Margaret Thatcher and is the best person to succeed the erratic Boris. Photograph: Jacob King/Pool/Reuters

IMAGE: One of the most forceful points Rishi made during the debate was the rise of an inimical China, and how Britain must be prepared to deal with Xi Jinping's Beijing regime that has already made a mockery of the process negotiated by Mrs Thatcher's government and Deng Xiaoping about the future of Hong Kong back in the early 1990s. Photograph: Jacob King/Pool/Reuters

IMAGE: Rishi and Liz embrace at the end of the debate. Photograph: Jacob King/Pool/Reuters

IMAGE: A 'DADA' bracelet on Rishi's wrist during the debate.
When he was chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi, wife Akshata Murty and daughters Krisna and Anoushka lit diyas at Diwali outside 11, Downing Street, where the family then lived. Photograph: Jacob King/Pool/Reuters

IMAGE: Akshata, Krisna and Anoushka look on as Rishi makes a speech while campaigning in Grantham on Saturday, July 23, 2022.
Grantham, Conservative party heartland, was Mrs Thatcher's home town. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

IMAGE: Rishi, Akshata, Anoushka and Krishna at a Conservative party leadership campaign event. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters