By John Ikani
Rishi Sunak has won the race to become the first Hindu and the first person of color to occupy the seat of Britain’s Prime Minister.
Sunak was voted to replace Liz Truss as Conservative Party leader after his sole challenger Penny Mordaunt failed to secure enough support and withdrew from the race.
The ex-chancellor gained the support of well over half of Tory MPs, with Mordaunt struggling to reach the 100 MP threshold
The result of Monday’s contest caps a spectacularly rapid rise to the pinnacle of British politics.
Sunak was first elected as an MP in 2015 and spent two years on the backbenches, during which Brexit dominated the political agenda. Sunak supported leaving the EU during the 2016 referendum.
He subsequently became a junior minister in Theresa May’s government. It was Boris Johnson who gave Sunak his first major government role when he first appointed him as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2019, and as the Chancellor in 2020.
Sunak won popularity during the early weeks of the pandemic when he unveiled an extensive support plan for those unable to work during lockdown.
But the “Partygate” scandal that took down Boris Johnson also tarnished his reputation, and he became archrivals with Johnson after quitting his government earlier this year.
Meanwhile, King Charles will return to London from Sandringham, and will be in Buckingham Palace this evening, ITV’s Chris Ship reports.
That means he could accept Liz Truss’s resignation and appoint Rishi Sunak as PM tonight.
At the age of 42, he is also the youngest person to take the office in more than 200 years.
