Rishi Sunak's first speech as UK prime minister

Rishi Sunak's first speech as UK prime minister
October 25, 2022, 4:30 pm

The King received The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP at Buckingham Palace today (Tuesday Oct 25) - The Royal Family official Twitter account

Britain's King Charles III on Tuesday (Oct 25) appointed new Conservative leader Rishi Sunak as the second prime minister of his reign, shortly after accepting the resignation of Liz Truss.

Photographs distributed by Buckingham Palace showed Charles shaking Sunak's hand as he appointed him to become Britain's first prime minister of colour.

Below are the highlights from Sunak's first speech as prime minister outside his No. 10 Downing Street office:

ON THE ECONOMY

"Our country is facing a profound economic crisis. The aftermath of COVID still lingers. Putin's war in Ukraine has destabilised energy markets and supply chains the world over."

"I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government's agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come."

MISTAKES WERE MADE

"I want to pay tribute to my predecessor Liz Truss. She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country. It is a noble aim. And I admired her restlessness to create change.

"But some mistakes were made — not born of ill will, or bad intentions. Quite the opposite, in fact. But mistakes, nonetheless. And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister, in part to fix them."

Rishi Sunak to meet King Charles before entering No 10

"And that work begins immediately. I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government's agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come."

ON BORIS JOHNSON

"I will always be grateful to Boris Johnson for his incredible achievements as prime minister and I treasure his warmth and generosity of spirit. And I know he would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual. It is a mandate that belongs to and unites all of us. And the heart of that mandate is our manifesto. I will deliver on its promise. "

ON THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

"I fully appreciate how hard things are. And I understand too that I have work to do to restore trust, after all that has happened. All I can say is that I am not daunted. I know the high office I have accepted and I hope to live up to its demands."

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