British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged today that England’s international reputation has taken a hit following successive political crises which led to the resignations of two of his predecessors in recent months.

Sunak, who is in Bali for the G20 summit, was answering a question in a BBC interview about how much damage the country’s reputation had abroad after the political turmoil this year following the resignation of Liz Truss. .

“Obviously our international reputation has taken a bit of a hit as a result of some of the things that have happened recently,” he said.

Truss stepped down last month after just six weeks in office, after a series of decisions sparked a rebellion within his own Conservative Party, which eventually replaced him with Sunak.

Truss’ predecessor, fellow conservative Boris Johnson, resigned in July under similar circumstances, after chaining multiple ethics scandals.

However, Sunak added that he had seen “a huge amount of goodwill for the UK to be an active and engaged member of the international community” while attending the G20 summit.

He said there was widespread support for what the UK was doing in Ukraine, where Johnson had shown “tremendous leadership” and he plans to continue.

“These are all issues in which we can play a role and people are looking to us to do so,” he added.

On the other hand, the UK prime minister today urged the City of London’s top bankers to limit wage increases to help fight inflation, after their bonuses increased sharply.

Asked whether he would urge banks to get involved in fighting inflation through wages, Sunak urged all executives to “accept a wage cap at a time like this and make sure you look out for all your workers too”.

“That’s what everyone expects and I believe that’s what most companies do.”

He also called the statistic that one in four hospitals had set up food banks for staff a tragedy.

Sunak said he was “incredibly grateful” to the nurses and all workers in the public health system, but said the 17% pay increase he was asking for was “unaffordable.” (submerged)