By Sunak, who is only 42 years old, will be the first British PM of colour.
The Associated Press ·
The source is taken from CBC NEWS:
Rishi Sunak said on Monday that he was “humbled and honoured” to be chosen as the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party. In this role, he will become the third British prime minister this year.
In a rushed process to replace Liz Truss as a leader, Sunak beat out former leaders Boris Johnson and Penny Mourdaunt to become the new leader. He was the only candidate who had the support of more than 100 lawmakers, which is what was needed to run in the election. His supporters say that more than half of the 357 Conservative lawmakers in Parliament have backed him.
“I can confirm that we have received one valid nomination, and Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party,” said party official Graham Brady.
Mourdant had just a few minutes earlier put out a statement saying that he was sorry.
“Rishi has my full support,” she said.
WATCH | Rishi Sunak is named the next leader of the Conservative Party:
The source is taken from CBC NEWS:
Rishi Sunak, 42, has won the race to lead the Conservative Party and become the next prime minister of Britain. His only competitor, Penny Mordaunt, gave up and dropped out of the race.
Last week, Truss said that she was leaving her job. Truss was only in office for a little over six weeks. His short time in office was marked by shock over the government’s mini-budget, which shook up the British markets, and by disagreements within the party that led to cabinet resignations and backbenchers saying they didn’t trust Truss.
Sunak gave a short speech in which he talked about the “serious” economic problems the country is facing, such as rising energy and food prices and a coming recession.
“Right now, we need stability and unity, and bringing our party and our country together will be my top priority,” he said.
Rishi Sunak, the new leader of the Conservative Party and the next prime minister, was greeted by MPs outside the party headquarters in London on Monday afternoon. (Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images )
Sunak, who was in charge of the Treasury under Johnson, will be the first person of colour and the first Hindu to lead Britain. He will also be the youngest British prime minister in more than 200 years since he will be 42 years old.
King Charles will ask him to make a government, and on Tuesday, he will take over as prime minister when Truss steps down.
Johnson’s return is not likely
Sunak’s resignation in the summer helped bring down the Johnson government. In a series of tweets on Sunday, he praised Johnson for bringing about Brexit, rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine, and helping Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion.
Sunak ran for party leader in the summer, but Truss got more votes thanks to supporting from party members at the grassroots level.
Truss promised Sunak her “full support,” and Theresa May, who was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019, was happy with the choice.
Since 2010, the Conservative Party has been in power. Their problems over the past few months have made opposition parties, led by Opposition Leader Keir Starmer, want a national election.
Starmer’s Labour Party tweeted a video of Sunak with the short message, “No one voted for this.”
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said, “Conservative MPs put in another out-of-touch Prime Minister without giving you a say.” Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party, said, “The Tories can’t put in a third Prime Minister without an election.”
Under Britain’s parliamentary system, it doesn’t have to happen until the end of 2024, but the government can call one sooner if it wants to.
People made fun of Sunak’s huge wealth
Sunak went to Oxford University to study politics, philosophy, and economics. He then went to Stanford University to get an MBA.
He was a hedge fund manager for the investment bank Goldman Sachs and lived in the U.S., which is where he met his wife, Akshata Murty. Two of their children are girls.
On Feb. 9, Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty were at a gala event in London. A few weeks later, it came out that Murty had not paid U.K. taxes on the money she made outside of the country. (Tristan Fewings/Reuters)
When Sunak went back to Britain, he won a safe Conservative seat in Yorkshire called Richmond in 2015. In the Brexit vote in 2016, he voted for Britain to leave the European Union.
Sunak’s career took off when the “Leave” side won the referendum. He was a junior minister for a few years before Johnson made him chancellor of the exchequer, or head of the Treasury, in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit.
Sunak’s life has been rocky at times. Critics said that a campaign to get people to eat in restaurants after lockdown restrictions were lifted in the summer of 2020 led to another wave of COVID-19.
Others have said that Sunak doesn’t understand the struggles of regular people because his family is very wealthy and he used to live in Silicon Valley.
He was also asked about how much money he and his wife had. Murty is the daughter of the billionaire founder of Indian tech giant Infosys. The Sunday Times Rich List says that the couple is worth 730 million pounds ($1.12 billion Cdn).
In April 2022, it was found out that Murty didn’t pay U.K. taxes on the money she made outside the country. Even though it was legal, it didn’t look good when Sunak was raising taxes for millions of Britons. Sunak was also criticised for keeping his American green card, which shows that you want to live in the U.S., for two years after he became Britain’s finance minister.
Sunak was found not to have done anything wrong, but the news still hurt. Police gave him a fine, along with Johnson and dozens of other people, for going to a party in the prime minister’s office in 2020, which was against the rules because of the coronavirus.
Johnson lost his job because people were angry that he held parties when they were told to stay home. Sunak said he went by accident and only stayed for a short time.
