Rishi Sunak to be next British PM

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak will become the next British PM after Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the race for the Conservative Party leadership on Monday.

Rishi Sunak leaves his London home on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

Britain has its youngest prime minister since the Napoleonic wars and the French Revolution after Rishi Sunak won the race to lead the Conservative Party.

Mr Sunak, just 42, born in Southampton, is the first leader of Indian heritage – his doctor father Yashvir and pharmacist mother Usha are of Punjabi Indian descent – and his victory came in the midst of Diwali, an important national festival of India.

Mr Sunak saw off a challenge from the Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt, when she failed to reach the required support of 100 MP backers by the midnight Australian time deadline.

Mr Sunak, who had lost to Liz Truss in an earlier Tory election, had stormed well ahead over the weekend. His main challenger, former prime minister Boris Johnson, ruled himself out on Sunday night saying that he couldn’t bring the party together.

Ms Mordaunt waited until just minutes before the deadline to acknowledge she couldn’t get the numbers and withdrew from the contest, leaving the coronation for Mr Sunak.

pic.twitter.com/w76rEvJdyQ

— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) October 24, 2022

Mr Sunak’s elevation to the top job seven years after first entering parliament comes at a crucial time for the country, battling an astonishing cost-of-living crisis, and helping to support Ukraine’s defence in Europe.

It is unclear if Mr Sunak, the former chancellor, will proceed with the scheduled mini-budget on October 31, but is anticipated to soon announce unpopular major tax rises and spending cuts to try and balance the books.

As chancellor he had overseen the biggest tax rises in 70 years, with a six per cent increase of corporation tax, foreshadowed a green levy and then introduced a generous and long furlough scheme that was bandied about to everyone except those who are self-employed, fuelling dissent about his credentials.

But Mr Sunak successfully pitched his candidature to fellow MPs, including on the right of the party, on his background in economics and hedge-fund experience. Even so, he was only publicly supported by around half of the MPs, indicating that there are still major divisions within the Tory party and Mr Sunak will have to work hard in his cabinet appointments to try and bring the different factions together.

The Conservative party members, who had preferred Mr Johnson, didn’t end up with a say in the matter because Ms Mordaunt didn’t get the numbers to be able to stand alongside Mr Sunak in the membership poll.

Mr Sunak is of a similar age to Tony Blair and David Cameron, who were both 43 when they were elected prime minister.

But at 42, Mr Sunak is the youngest prime minister since William Pitt the Younger, who took office in 1783 aged just 24 but who went on to be considered one of Britain’s greatest leaders.

Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata, whom he married in 2009, is one of the wealthiest women in Britain and is the daughter of the founder of Indian tech company Infosys. They have two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.