Rishi Sunak Emerges New UK Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak has been chosen as the new U.K. prime minister less than a week after Liz Truss stepped down from the position.

Sunak’s victory came days after Truss’s resignation following her disastrous tax cuts plans and policy U-turns plunged the markets into chaos. The unprecedented economic crisis drew a rare intervention from the Bank of England.

Sunak was chief secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2020 and a member of Parliament from Richmond.

The 42-year-old is the first person of color to serve as prime minister in U.K. history.

Truss’ short time as prime minister, the shortest in history came about as a complete rebuke of her economic plan for the country. She eventually rolled back most of her changes, but her top advisers resigned en masse and she finally stepped down on Thursday.

The opposition Labour Party’s leader Keir Starmer had called for a general election in the wake of Truss’ downfall.

Sunak and Mordaunt had lost to Truss in an earlier race to appoint a new leader after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July following a wave of scandals linked to parties entertained during the coronavirus lockdown.

Sunak, a former finance minister, will be the UK’s first leader of colour and the first Hindu to take the top job. At 42, he will also be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years.

The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to impose deep spending cuts to try to rebuild the UK’s fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into a recession, dragged down by the surging cost of energy and food.

He will also inherit a political party that has fractured along ideological lines, a challenge that damaged the fortunes of several former Conservative leaders.