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Rishi Sunak set to become next UK PM as rivals pull out of race
Rishi Sunak will be the UK's next prime minister after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest. This leaves him with the task of steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.
Sunak will be the UK's first British Asian PM and at 42, the youngest leader in more than two centuries.
Sunak, one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster and set to be the country’s first leader of color, will be asked to form a government by King Charles, replacing Liz Truss, the outgoing leader who only lasted 44 days in the job before she resigned.
He defeated centrist politician Penny Mordaunt, who failed to get enough backing from lawmakers to enter the ballot, while his rival, the former prime minister Boris Johnson, withdrew from the contest saying he could no longer unite the party.
Immediately after being selected by Tory MPs he ruled out an early general election and warned his party they had to "unite or die".
The ex-chancellor who oversaw the nation's finances during the Covid pandemic was the only contender to gain enough support from MPs.
In a short televised address, his first as Tory leader, Sunak paid tribute to outgoing PM Liz Truss and warned that the UK faced a "profound" economic crisis.
Sunak said he intended to serve with "integrity and humility".
Rishi Sunak leads PM race as Boris Johnson arrives in London
Sunak was previously appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer from 13 February 2020 to 5 July 2022.
He went to Winchester College and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University.
He spent his professional career before politics in business and finance, working internationally. In May 2015, he was elected Conservative MP for Richmond (Yorks)
He praised Margaret Thatcher as the “greatest post-war prime minister” and said she is the standard he holds himself to.
levantnews-BBC
