Rishi Sunak has taken the lead of the British Conservative Party, announced on Monday Graham Brady, head of the powerful “1922 Committee” responsible for the internal organization of the party, he will consequently become the 57th British Prime Minister after the abandonment of Penny Mordaunt in the race to succeed Liz Truss.
Sunak, 42, was the only candidate to officially win the support of 100 Tory MPs.
He received backing from a series of ministers who had previously backed Boris Johnson. The Tories appeared to be heading for a showdown between the former prime minister and Sunak, his former finance minister, but Mr Johnson pulled out of the race on Sunday night.
Sunak’s victory comes seven weeks after his loss to Truss in the party leadership election. The pace of his political resurrection is extraordinary. He won the support of more than half of Tory MPs during the five-day leadership race, with many saying his promise of fiscal prudence was vindicated by the disaster of Ms. Truss.
Sunak now has just hours to work out which Tories to appoint to his cabinet and which staff to hire in Downing Street. He will be keen to reach out to all party members, unlike Ms Truss’ cabinet, which was made up almost exclusively of her supporters.
The new prime minister, the first person of color to hold the post, also had the fastest run to No10 in modern political history, having been an MP for just seven years.