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CHAPTER 4The Surgical Strike

I must be cruel only to be kind.

— William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Introduction

I landed in the UK in autumn 2005 for an assignment with GE Capital. Over the course of the next 15 years, I have had the opportunity of living and working in the great city of London. I have worked in teams that had Europeans, Russians, Americans, Indians and Australians. Save New York, it is hard to see the diversity and variety we get to see in London anywhere else in the world.

I know several of my British friends have not just been tolerant but also proud of the diverse nature of the workplace and social set-up in and around this great city. However, all that changed in 2016. As the referendum tipped in favour of Brexit and populist regimes thrived across the globe, we felt the world was moving towards a new normal. The markets in Europe took a hit at the news of Brexit.

What followed was nothing short of a political disaster in the UK for three long years. The UK was in a political turmoil that led to economic uncertainty. Several overseas investor friends I spoke to, between 2016 and 2020, agreed that the fundamentals of the UK economy were strong but market sentiment was weak. We needed a decisive leader to get the country out of this crisis. We got it with Boris Johnson, who was precisely that.

I didn't vote for the conservatives nor for a Boris leadership during the 2019 elections. However, I was glad when he was voted to lead the country out of the Brexit ...