Clear: Sunak becomes British Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak becomes British Prime Minister

Former finance minister Rishi Sunak became the new leader of the Tory party and thereby the new British Prime Minister. After the withdrawal of his only party leadership rival, Benny Mordant.

The announcement of Sunak’s appointment was made by Sir Graham Brady on Monday afternoon – minutes after Mordant’s departure. Brady chairs the 1922 Committee, which brings together Tory MPs.

Mordant did not admit that he had failed to obtain the required 100 nominations, but only announced in his resignation that it had become clear that the announcement of a new leader was needed today.

Sunak, 42, is one of Britain’s richest men and has been an MP since 2015. He grew up in Southampton in southern England and was educated at Oxford and Stanford universities. This summer, he was one of the first to come out against former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson is one of Sunak’s challengers for the post. Johnson said he had enough support from MPs but withdrew his candidacy on Sunday, concluding “it’s not the right thing to do” and “you can’t govern effectively unless the party is united in Parliament”.

Sunak becomes the third British Prime Minister in the space of a year. He was only in office for 45 days after his predecessor, Liz Truss, was forced to throw in the towel after she pushed through a criticized proposal for deep tax cuts.