Rishi Sunak becomes the first Indian-origin UK PM
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London: Rishi Sunak has been elected unopposed as the new Prime Minister of the UK. He is also becoming the new leader of the governing Conservative Party.
Sir Graham Brady, chair of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, at local time 1400 on Monday announced that he received only one nomination which made Sunak the winner. The 42-year-old will meet with King Charles III in Buckingham Palace soon before taking charge of 10 Downing Street in London.
The decision was made after Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the race. Sunak was comfortably in the lead after securing the backing of over 50% of the Tory MPs. The minimum requirement to make the shortlist is the support of 100 MPs. One and a half months ago, the former chancellor was in the race to become the PM with Liz Truss until the last stage.
He is also the youngest person, the first person of colour, and the first practising Hindu to become the Prime Minister of the UK. Sunak is one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster with a net worth of over 700 million pounds. The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss became finance minister under Boris Johnson at the beginning of the pandemic. He is expected to rebuild Britain's economy which is struggling to prepare for a recession and cope with the energy crisis.
Mordaunt tweeted in support of Sunak right after the announcement and said the decision shows the "diversity and talent" of the party. He had failed to secure the minimum of 100 nominations from her fellow MPs. She tweeted: "These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest, it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty today. They have taken this decision in good faith for the good of the country."
She added: "This decision is historic and shows the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support. We all owe it to the country, to each other, and to Rishi to unite and work together for the good of the nation. There is much work to be done."