British politician Rishi Sunak has been elected the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after rival Penny Mordaunt failed to receive the required 100 nominations from her fellow members of Parliament (MPs).
"Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party,” senior backbencher Graham Brady declared.
Mordaunt promised to give the former finance minister her “full support .”
Sunak became the first non-white prime minister after receiving backing from the vast majority of Conservative Party MPs, which allowed him to take the key to No. 10, the official residence of the prime minister.
The 42-year-old is of Indian descent as his family immigrated to Britain in the 1960s.
Sunak became well-known in the UK after Johnson appointed him to be the chief secretary of the Treasury in 2019.
Things to know about the new UK PM Rishi Sunak.
Sunak was born on May 12th, 1980 in Southampton, England to East African immigrants, Yashvir and Usha Sunak, who were both from India.
He completed his studies in philosophy, politics, and economics at Lincoln College in Oxford and received his master's in business administration in 2001.
Sunak married Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Infosys's founder and a billionaire Indian businessman, N.R. Narayana Murthy, in August 2009.
On March 17, 2020, Sunak introduced a program that offered £330 billion in emergency support for businesses as a furlough program for workers.
Under the Boris Johnson administration,
Rishi Sunak served as the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer from February 13, 2020, to July 5, 2022.
The former financial analyst is expected to enforce stability within the Conservative Party and Britain as a whole to halt its slide into political and economic issues.
He is also expected to implement significant budget cuts and address the rising cost of food and energy.
Economic and Political Challenges facing Sunak.
UK's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made few public statements regarding his plans for handling the nation's numerous economic and political challenges.
However, he laid out a comprehensive policy agenda during his campaign for the position of prime minister earlier this year.
That, according to Reuters gives an insight into how he intends to lead the UK.
Leading the Conservative Party.
One of Sunak's first tasks will be to prove he can lead a Conservative Party that, despite having a sizable majority in parliament, is split into sections that disagree on important topics like immigration and Brexit as well as economic policy.
Some members of the party will be adamantly opposed to higher taxes, while others will be opposed to budget reductions in crucial areas like defense and health.
Winning the leadership race is simply the first step in unifying a party that has had its previous two leaders removed due to internal conflicts and that has spent years debating how to leave the European Union.
In the 2016 vote, Sunak favored Brexit, but some on the party's right still saw him as being too pro-EU.
The main topic of trade with Northern Ireland is still being discussed with Brussels.
Sunak will be under pressure to reach a solution that modifies some aspects of the original withdrawal agreement without granting the EU permanent control over commerce between the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.
He will also face calls to keep to government promises to limit immigration into the nation, which many Conservative lawmakers view as essential to winning over voters in the upcoming election.
Recession and rising interest rates.
The recession and rising interest rates are a dangerous economic combination for Britain. While consumers experience rising prices and declining real earnings, the Bank of England is attempting to control double-digit inflation.
After Liz Truss, the outgoing leader, alarmed the bond market last month with her proposal for unfunded tax cuts and an expensive energy price guarantee, forcing the Bank of England to step in,
Britain now needs to regain its credibility in the international financial community.
The next prime minister would likely have to oversee spending cuts and tax increases to overcome a budget imbalance made worse by the crisis's increased borrowing costs. This financial statement is due on October 31.
This comes as the government is under pressure to assist struggling households through a difficult financial crunch, with increased mortgage costs on top of rising food, fuel, and heating costs brought on by the conflict in Ukraine and other international causes.
Brexit and Immigration.
In his statement on Sunday announcing his candidacy, Sunak stated his desire to "fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country."
Sunak earlier declared that he will push forward with measures intended to unilaterally override the Brexit agreement while still attempting to engage with the EU on Northern Ireland. The EU has voiced strong opposition to the law, which is currently before parliament.
Regarding Brexit, in August, more generally he pledged to "keep Brexit safe" and establish a new government division to examine EU regulations that still apply in British law.
Rishi Sunak.
In the summer leadership election, he stated that although he was proud to come from an immigrant family, he thought Britain needed to maintain control over its borders and would continue to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Additionally, he would not rule out the possibility of Britain leaving the European Court of Human Rights.
Fixing the UK's economy.
Sunak claimed that the nation was experiencing a "profound economic crisis," in a statement declaring his candidacy on Sunday.
His tenure as finance minister, which lasted from February 2020 to July 2022, put Britain on track for its highest tax burden since the 1950s. A bigger public spending plan was also included, although he pledged to increase discipline and reduce waste.
He criticized Truss's tax-cutting strategy during the summer leadership contest and promised to do so only until inflation was under control. He presented a plan to lower income taxes from 20% to 16% by 2029 at the time.
Sunak has defended the Bank of England's independence and emphasized how crucial it is for government initiatives to cooperate with the central bank to control inflation rather than fuel it.
Politics and Opinion.
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