Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (former leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024) is receiving criticism for his op-ed in The Sunday Times titled ‘US Will Recover From This War More Easily Than UK.’ The subtitle is: “America can withstand the energy shock far better than countries that import much of their oil. We can’t afford to be ideological about North Sea drilling.”
[NOTE: Sunak lost the 2024 election to current Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party, who has been repeatedly urged by U.S. President Donald Trump to reverse Britain’s ban on the expansion of North Sea oil and gas drilling after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. In contrast, Starmer says a quick shift to renewable energy is the best route for Britain’s energy security.]
As seen below with a link to the article, Sunak added of Trump: “Whatever mis-steps this president is making, the United States itself will recover relatively rapidly from this war. The same cannot be said for the UK and Europe. I fear we will soon find out why America is the indispensable nation.”
Not true at all, Rishi! The US has lost significant goodwill globally. Impossible to recover and whoever succeeds Trump is not going to be able to change course. US is like the Titanic. This is a claim to be continue to be the sole hegemon in a rapidly changing world order…
— Mohamed Amersi (@moamersi) April 19, 2026
Replying to Sunak was the CEO of Emergent Telecom Ventures, Mohamed Amersi, who has donated over £1.2 million (approx. $1.4 million) to the Conservative party since 2018 and supported Sunak while he was PM.
Amersi wrote: “Not true at all, Rishi! The US has lost significant goodwill globally. Impossible to recover and whoever succeeds Trump is not going to be able to change course. US is like the Titanic. This is a claim to be continue [sic] to be the sole hegemon in a rapidly changing world order…”
Amersi, a controversial figure whose own pinned post says he has had his “character attacked by a dishonest, disingenuous cabal,” faced his own blowback in the comments, where he lingered and responded to attacks.
Sunak’s realpolitik with the U.S. as the “indispensable nation” won agreement from many in the responses, where a common sentiment was “Rishi is 100% spot on….Not liking Trump does not make something untrue.” Another wrote: “The U.S. isn’t claiming to be anything. It’s acting as if its own national interests should be its priority in how it interacts internationally.”
That line of support for Sunak’s position — one in which essentially “might means right” — contradicts Amersi’s assertion that America needs to maintain “goodwill” in the world to deliver leadership needed for a sturdy global order. The concept of “goodwill” — also known as soft power — was not widely appreciated by the commenters on the post, who derided Amersi as a “globalist.”