Rishi Sunak has secured victory in the Conservative leadership contest, and will now replace Liz Truss as prime minister following a turbulent 45-day term.
His only declared rival, Penny Mordaunt, failed to gather enough supporters to get on the ballot in the Tory leadership race with frontrunner Sunak, who secured the backing of more than half of Tory MPs.
Supporters of Mordaunt were confident of blocking the coronation of Sunak by forcing the decision to go to MPs, before a final vote from Tory members later this week. But that did not prove to be the case. She pulled out of the contest to lead the Conservative Party at 2pm.
Victory is seen as vindication for Sunak, who warned in the last campaign that Truss’ tax-cutting economic plans were reckless and would cause havoc, which proved correct.
Truss resigned last week after her package of tax cuts spooked financial markets, hammered the value of the pound and obliterated her authority.
The former chancellor, who was runner-up to Truss in the contest to replace the scandal-plagued Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, will become Britain’s first non-white leader and the first Hindu to take the top job when he is sworn in to office by His Majesty King Charles III.
At 42, he will also be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years.
No doubt another new Housing Minister by Friday.
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Cue Countdown clock music
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Just two Prime Ministers to go before Christmas
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I’ve got a Christmas fruitcake that will last longer than Rishi
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Wind back 6 weeks. If they’d voted for him then we and they wouldn’t be where we are now. He’s now got to find the additional few billions that have flowed down the drain meanwhile. What a shower.
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