English
London: Indian-origin Rishi Sunak on Monday became the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Boris Johnson abruptly ended his bid. and Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the race. This was announced by the 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady.
Conservative Party is choosing Britain’s third prime minister this year following Liz Truss’ resignation after a turbulent 45-day term. Interestingly, Rishi Sunak lost out to Truss in the last Conservative elections.
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. His only rival, Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew on Monday. As the 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.
Penny Mordaunt, the only other candidate, scrambled to persuade Tory MPs for support while Rishi Sunak got past the line to be UK’s next prime minister. Earlier, Boris Johnson withdrew his candidature from the race late last night. Priti Patel, a loyalist of former British prime minister Boris Johnson, on Monday came out in support of Rishi Sunak to take over at 10 Downing Street as the Conservative Party leader after her former boss withdrew from the leadership contest.
Rishi Sunak, 42, is married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of the billionaire co-founder of Infosys Narayana Murthy. He was first elected as a member of Parliament from Richmond (Yorks) constituency in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 and 2019.
He was appointed as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Boris Johnson’s cabinet in February 2020, a position he held till July 2022.
