Rishi Sunak will be the UK’s new prime minister after winning the leadership race for the ruling Conservative Party, which was triggered by the resignation of Liz Truss last week.
Sunak’s victory on Monday came days after Truss resigned after his disastrous tax cut and reversal plans plunged markets into chaos. The unprecedented economic crisis has attracted the infrequent intervention of the Bank of England.
Sunak, a former finance minister, tasked with leading a deeply divided country through an economic recession that is expected to impoverish millions.
Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from London, said Sunak “is pretty well placed” despite the demanding situations ahead.
“In some respects, Array. . . some of her paintings have already been made to put out the fires created by Liz Truss, because it’s a typhoon in the markets,” Simmons said.
“The total list of tax cuts and concepts that, frankly, according to Sunak and others, belong to Disneyland because none of this would be imaginable without further crushing the economy,” he said.
Sunak’s sole challenger, Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons and former defence minister, reportedly received the support of 30 MPs opposed to Sunak’s 150.
“This resolution is historic and shows, once again, the diversity and skill of our group,” Mordaunt said as he withdrew from the race minutes before the winner was announced. “Rishi has my full support. “
Sunak and Mordaunt lost to Truss last month in the race to appoint a successor to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He was forced to announce his resignation in July after a wave of scandals similar to the parties that maintained the COVID-19 lockdown.
Sunak will be the first colored ruler of the United Kingdom and the first Hindu to hold the office. At 42, he will also be the youngest prime minister in more than two hundred years.
The former billionaire hedge fund boss is expected to impose deep spending cuts to rebuild the UK’s fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into recession, driven by rising energy and food costs.
He will also inherit a policy that has fractured along ideological lines, a challenge that has hurt the fortunes of several former conservative leaders.
While there were rumors that Johnson would return over the weekend, he withdrew from the contest on Sunday.
He said he had won the election of 102 lawmakers and perhaps was simply “back in Downing Street”, but failed to convince either Sunak or Mordaunt to join him “in the national interest”.
“I have a lot to offer, but I’m afraid it’s not the right time,” Johnson said.
The conservatives retain the majority in parliament, which as leader, Sunak will be appointed prime minister through King Charles III.
Economists questioned whether Sunak can simply take over the country’s finances while holding the party’s warring factions together.
Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, the fourth user in office in four months, is due to provide a budget by Oct. 31 to fill a black hole in public finances, which is expected to have soared to one billion pounds ($45. 2 billion).
Conservative political commentator Alex Deane noted that the last 3 Conservative ministers were ousted by members of their own party.
“So it’s great to hear other people say smart things about our new leader,” Deane told Al Jazeera.
“[Sunak] didn’t have a direct election mandate,” Deane said. “. . . One of the things you’ll have to do. . . It’s presiding over an era of relative calm, reassuring markets and not doing something too ambitious or too fast. “
“One of the things he will probably do is keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor,” he added. “He reassured the markets when he arrived. What he can’t do is force conservative members to show him loyalty. “