Indian-origin Rishi Sunak will become UK’s next PM after rivals drop out of race

Indian-origin Rishi Sunak will become UK’s next PM after rivals drop out of race

LONDON: Rishi Sunak has won the race to be leader of the Conservative Party and will become Britain’s next prime minister — the third in seven weeks, and the fifth Prime Minister since 2016.
The former Treasury chief will be Britain’s first leader of color, and faces the task of stabilizing the party and country at a time of economic and political turbulence.
Sunak will also become the first Hindu to become Britain’s Prime Minister.
At the age of 42, he is also the youngest person to take the office in more than 200 years.
His only rival, Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew on Monday.
As leader of the governing party, he will take over as prime minister from Liz Truss, who quit last week after 45 tumultuous days in office.
Sunak’s position strengthened after former leader Boris Johnson dropped out of the Conservative Party leadership contest on Sunday, ending a short-lived, high-profile attempt to return to the prime minister’s job he was ousted from little more than three months ago amid ethics scandals.
Sunak had been the strong favorite as the governing Conservative Party sought stability at a time of immense economic challenges and after months of chaos that consumed the past two leaders.
He has promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability” if he forms a government — a nod to the growing to desire for a leader who can tackle the country’s problems.
Sunak’s victory marks a remarkable turnaround in political fortunes for the former finance minister, who lost out to outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss just last month after his popularity among party colleagues did not translate in the wider Tory membership vote.
Earlier, high-profile Tory MPs switched allegiance from Johnson to Sunak, including former Home Secretary Priti Patel and cabinet ministers James Cleverly and Nadhim Zahawi.
Patel, the Indian-origin former minister who resigned from the Cabinet when Liz Truss was elected the Prime Minister last month, said the Tories must put political differences aside to give Sunak the best chance of succeeding as the new leader.
Sunak has faced down attacks from his opponents over his record as Chancellor until his resignation precipitated Johnson’s exit.
He stood firm on his focus on inflation rather than any vote-winning tax cut promises to woo a traditionally low-tax favouring Conservative Party membership base. “I will get taxes down in this Parliament, but I’m going to do so responsibly. I don’t cut taxes to win elections, I win elections to cut taxes,” he declared.
Sunak won unopposed
Earlier in the day, the former chancellor, a devout Hindu, was comfortably in the lead, having secured the public backing of over half the 357 Tory MPs — way above the 100 minimum required to make the shortlist.
In time for the 1400 local time Monday deadline, Sir Graham Brady, chair of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, announced in the Parliament complex that he had received only one nomination and therefore Sunak is the winner of the leadership contest.
Mordaunt had hoped to reach the threshold by the time nominations closed — but she backed out.
That means Sunak is now the Conservative Party leader and will be asked by King Charles III to form a government.
He will become the prime minister in a handover of power from Truss later Monday or on Tuesday.
Sunak, who was Treasury chief from 2020 until this summer, quit in July in protest at Johnson’s leadership.
Wealthy politician
Fabulously rich from his pre-politics career in finance, Sunak has been mocked as out of touch with Britons struggling with decades-high inflation.
—Agencies

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