Drenched by British spring rain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called an election yesterday, surprising colleagues and commentators. And if polls are anything to go by, he will lose, leaving behind a tech legacy that is patchy at best.
UK election: Rishi Sunak resignation speech in full | BBC News
Maybe the intentions were good to begin with. Sunak took power after his undisputed promotion to the leadership of the ruling Conservative Party, following the ignominious resignation of Liz Truss, who is remembered only for failing to manage the shelf life of a supermarket salad.
Not long after becoming prime minister in October 2022, Sunak helped launch a plan he claimed would "consolidate Britain's place as a science and technology superpower by 2030."
Backed by over £370m ($471m) in new government funding – the kind of change Jeff Bezos might find under the seat of one of his luxury sports cars – the government pledged to boost infrastructure, investment and skills for "Britain's most exciting emerging technologies , from quantum and supercomputers to AI."
