Status: 10/24/2022 3:42 p.m
Earlier than expected, it is now clear who will succeed Truss in Downing Street: Ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak will become the new Prime Minister of Great Britain. His only rival, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew her candidacy.
Rishi Sunak becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain. As the only applicant, he gathered the required number of supporters of at least 100 MPs, as announced by the Conservative Party in London. This means that the former finance minister will automatically succeed the previous Tory party leader and Prime Minister Liz Truss, who resigned after just 44 days in office.
Former Secretary of Defense Penny Mordaunt, who had also applied, withdrew just before the deadline. Sunak has her full support, the acting Minister for Parliamentary Affairs wrote on Twitter.
Economic crisis and a divided party
This clears the way for 42-year-old Sunak. The son of Indian immigrants, Southampton-born Sunak becomes the first British leader from an ethnic minority background in Britain. “Rishi Sunak has been elected head of the Conservative Party,” confirmed the head of the parliamentary group committee responsible, Graham Brady, in London.
The former hedge fund manager faces the difficult task of leading Britain through the economic crisis and uniting his divided faction.
Sunak warned of financial chaos
Sunak presented himself as a candidate who can end the internal party quarrels. Most recently, Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch and ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman, two leading politicians from the right fringe of the party, had backed him. The 42-year-old benefits from the fact that in the party’s internal election campaign for party leadership against Truss in the summer, he warned of precisely the financial chaos that the incumbent prime minister caused with her economic policies during her short term in office.
As a result, Sunak is likely to completely reverse Truss’ economic and financial program, he said ARD-Correspondent Annette Dittert tagesschau24. He will put more emphasis on austerity and partially withdraw some of Truss’ energy relief packages.
Annette Dittert, ARD London, with details on the election of the new Prime Minister Sunak in Great Britain
tagesschau24 3:00 p.m., 24.10.2022
Not everyone is behind him
However, experts point out that Sunak does not have the support of the entire party and faction. Many members accuse him of triggering the downfall of popular Johnson by resigning as Treasury Secretary. In addition, critics point to the wealth of what is probably the richest British MP. The former investment banker is married to the Infosys founder’s daughter, who owns a hundreds of millions pound stake in the Indian IT giant.
After outgoing Prime Minister Truss left office after six unprecedentedly chaotic weeks under pressure from her party, the Tory party had had to look for new leadership for the second time in a few months. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson initially discussed a comeback, but surprisingly withdrew on Sunday evening.