Rishi Sunak is the first person of Asian descent to become Prime Minister of the UK.

It is an achievement for anyone to become Prime Minister - and the fact that the Hindu son of an immigrant family of Indian descent has done it is undoubtedly a hugely significant moment in British history.

Politics at a UK level is starting to reflect more the multicultural make-up of the country in the 21st century.

That's the good news.

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There is however a saying ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’.

Sunak is also the latest Prime Minister to be from a very wealthy background and the product of a very expensive private education. In his case Winchester College.

You may have seen the video clip of a young Sunak talking about how he had "friends who are aristocrats, friends who are upper-class, friends who are working-class”. Then admitted: "Well, not working-class."

The wealthy capitalist class has in the last decade renewed and tightened its grip on power in the UK. 

With Sunak as Prime Minister, it may well be a welcome opportunity to promote anti-racism but it does nothing to address inequality.

Liz Truss made much of her status as the first Prime Minister to have attended a non-selective, comprehensive secondary school.

She didn’t exactly fly the flag for the state school system, lasting less than the length of a summer holiday.

But that doesn’t matter. There are many, many people who were state school educated who could have done a better job than Truss.

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We can celebrate Sunak’s premiership as a victory for multi-culturalism but we cannot let it blind us to the fact he is most likely about to continue a Government programme that has hit the poorest in society the hardest.

He is the fifth Tory Prime Minister in a row since David Cameron in 2010.

In that time poverty has risen, pensioner poverty is on the rise again and the richest have got richer.

Child Poverty Action Group has a chart showing child poverty rates over the decades.

In 1981 it was around 10%, by 1997 it has rocketed to above 30%. It fell back to below 30% by 2010.

Since then, it has risen again to be even higher and is heading towards 40%.

Pensioner poverty fell even further, from above 30% in 1997 to below 20% in 2007, and further still to 15% and remained there until it started rising in 2015 and is now up to 20% for women.

When Sunak says there are “difficult decisions to come” it is not the bankers in the city of London who will be scared stiff.

When he says he will bring economic stability and not leave debts to the next generation it is not the chief executives of the FTSE 100 who are worrying about losing their homes, not even their second home.

It will instead be those raising children in poverty, those pensioners in poverty and workers in low-paid jobs worried that their employment rights are about to be eroded further.

It will be people on benefits terrified that the already too-thin lifeline they are given is to be frayed even more to breaking point.

Sunak said he will protect the most vulnerable and “bring compassion” and says he understands “how hard things are”.

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We have heard it all too often in the past from the same people, from the same class who believe they have an inalienable right to govern.

They have no idea what life is like for ordinary working people.

They can be expected to understand the life of a working-class family in Glasgow as much as a working-class family can relate to the life of the super-rich in a country mansion with a London townhouse for staying in during the week.

This week the Office of National Statistics released a graphic showing the increase in some basic foods.

It showed vegetable oil up by 65%, pasta up by 60%, tea 46%, chips 39% and bread 38%.

Crisps, milk, and frozen veg were all up by more than 20%.

The list went on, showing huge increases, well above the quoted official inflation figure, for baked beans, sausages, onions, apples and tomatoes.

Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, have a nice baronial mansion in Yorkshire to retreat to when not in London.

It costs a reported £14,000 a year to heat the swimming pool alone.

Hopefully, he will bring economic stability, and bring some sanity back to UK politics after the wilful damage and the disasters of his predecessors, and hopefully, he will protect the most vulnerable people in society like he said he would.

Given what has gone before him it is difficult to imagine that will be the case.

Sunak talks about “bringing compassion” to the challenges but immediately reappointed Suella Braverman as home secretary whose “dream” is to send people seeking asylum, safety and a better life on a plane to Rwanda. 

Sunak was chancellor when the Universal Credit uplift was cut and when Marcus Rashford, who does know what poverty is like, forced the Government into a u-turn on free school meals.

In one way, Sunak’s appointment is a departure from the long line of white people from a Christian background as Prime Minister.

In another, it is another right-wing Prime Minister who will exacerbate inequality.

Change. What change?