After winning the battle for leadership of Britain’s Conservative Party, former finance minister Rishi Sunak will become the UK Prime Minister.
Penny Mordaunt, the last rival left after Boris Johnson dramatically pulled out, failed to secure the necessary 100 nominations from her fellow MPs.
“Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative party,” senior backbencher Graham Brady said, as Mordaunt pledged her “full support” for Sunak.
Triumph for 42-year-old Sunak came after Johnson’s decision late Sunday to abandon his political comeback bid.
Just weeks after he lost out to Liz Truss to lead the ruling Tories, Sunak, therefore, pulled off a stunning reversal in fortunes.
Addressing members of his party behind closed doors after the announcement, Sunak reportedly received a rapturous reception.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon, whose nationalist government in Edinburgh wants to hold an independence referendum next year, was among the first to congratulate Sunak.
“I wish him well… notwithstanding our political differences,” she said.
“That he becomes the first British Asian — indeed the first from any minority ethnic background — to become PM is a genuinely significant moment,” she said.
