Former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has become British Prime Minister and new leader of the Conservative Party after his opponent Penny Mordaunt, Minister for Parliamentary Relations, left her post.
The Chairman of the Conservative Party committee officially announced the election of Rishi Sunak as party leader and therefore prime minister, replacing Liz Terrace, who had previously resigned. Mordaunt dropped out of the race for the leadership of the British Conservative Party after failing to garner enough votes for the party’s MPs as she was reported to have received only 25 votes while Sunak garnered the votes of 194 MPs.
Mordaunt later conceded defeat to Sunak in the Downing Street race. “Now we have decided who will be our next prime minister,” Penny Mordaunt said in a statement. “This decision is historic and once again demonstrates the diversity and talent of our party.” She added, “My Rishi has my full support. We are all indebted to the country and Rishi to come together and work together for the good of the nation. There is a lot of work to be done.” And Sunak’s hand has been inclined in recent hours, especially after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson withdrew from the election.
Terrace resigned on Thursday after a tumultuous 45 days on the job, admitting she failed to deliver a clumsy tax-cut economic package she was forced to back out of after sparking outrage within her own party and rocking financial markets for weeks. . Sunak, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 until this summer, presided over the downturn in the UK economy during the coronavirus pandemic. He resigned in July in protest of Johnson’s leadership.
