After the withdrawal of Penny Mordaunt from the Conservative Party leadership race, Rishi Sunak, the former UK finance minister, is set to be the next UK prime minister
It was the second race in just months to pick a leader following tumultuous months of scandls and market turmoil.
Outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss’ resigned on Thursday, after just six weeks in office.
In September, Sunak was defeated by Truss in a party leadership vote in the wake of Johnson’s downfall.
The party had said it would accelerate the race to pick a new prime minister within a week.
Sunak was the only candidate with the confirmed support of more than 100 lawmakers, the number needed to run in the race. According to The Guardian, 51% of Conservative lawmakers back Sunak.
Meanwhile, House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt did not seem to have the required 100 votes. A total of 27 Tory lawmakers back her, although she claims to have the support of 90, The Guardian reported.
Mordaunt withdrew at the last minute.
Who is Rishi Sunak?
The 42-year-old politician is set to become Britain’s youngest prime minister in more than two centuries, the country’s first nonwhite leader and the first Hindu to take the job.
Winning the Conservative leadership race would also give Sunak vindication, as he had warned in the last campaign that Truss’ economic plans would backfire — and they did.
But Sunak himself had set the country on course to have its biggest tax burden in decades as he served as finance minister between February 2020 and July 2022.
He had backed tax cuts but said he would only bring them forward once inflation was brought under control.