Rishi Sunak announces official bid to become UK Prime Minister

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LONDON — Earlier on Sunday, former British finance minister Rishi Sunak announced that he would succeed Liz Truss as the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As night fell, his victory seemed almost certain.

In the meantime, his only serious rival, former prime minister Boris Johnson, has said he will not seek to return to the job he was ousted in July. Johnson, who has never officially announced his bid, has tried unsuccessfully to get enough support from Conservative MPs. The leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mourdant, is running for the leadership but can’t come close to Sunak or Johnson.

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Fast-paced leadership competitions are an unpredictable sport in the UK. Barring a major development, however, Sunak could be picked as early as Monday afternoon. If he wins, Sunak will become the country’s first prime minister of South Asian descent or a person of color. He was born in Southampton, England, to Indian parents who immigrated from East Africa.

“I want to fix our economy, unite our party and contribute to our country,” Sunak said in his Sunday Tweets.

This is the 42-year-old Sunak’s second bid for the role in less than four months. Over the summer, the former chancellor entered the final round to succeed Johnson, but lost to Truss in the vote for party membership.

Sunak, who was relatively unknown until his promotion to Johnson’s finance minister in 2020, has since gained a reputation for paying attention to fiscal detail and taking a pragmatic approach to managing the country’s finances by guiding the country through the coronavirus pandemic. He and Johnson formed a contrasting dual role at the top of British government: Sunak played the sensible accountant in the room as the prime minister captivated the public with his unique sense of humor.

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Sunday’s announcement made Sunak the first — and so far the only — candidate to be officially announced, according to public counts, who had picked up 100 from other lawmakers by 2 p.m. Monday. nominated in order to appear on the party’s ballot. If more than one candidate passes the threshold, MPs will elect two to be voted online by party members, with results expected to be announced on October 1. 28.

As of Sunday morning, Sunak’s strongest challenger appeared to be former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned in July, kicking off Britain’s current round of political chaos.in seconds tweet Containing his formal resignation letter as Johnson’s finance minister, which prompted others to resign and eventually forced Johnson to resign, Sunak said the public deserved a government that was “proper, competent and serious”.

On Saturday, British media reported that the pair, who once worked side by side, were holding late-night talks, sparking speculation the pair could reach a deal to shelve the rivalry.

Some Tory MPs and former Johnson allies, including former cabinet members Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamsonhas announced support for Sunak.

In a major coup in Sunak’s camp, Suella Braverman — a rising star on the party’s right who resigned as home secretary last week, prompting Trus’ resignation — also Backed the former finance minister, arguing that he was in “the predicament that the country is in right now”.

“I need a leader who will tidy up our house and hold the tiller steadily and carefully. For me, that person is Rishi Sunak,” she wrote in The Telegraph on Sunday. .

In a major blow to Johnson’s chances, David Frost, who negotiated the Brexit deal and was later awarded a seat in the House of Lords by Johnson, declared on Saturday that it was time to “move on” from the former prime minister.

Many Sunak supporters have sought to portray him as a stable candidate who could end the chaos of recent months. Sunak’s advocates also point to his candidacy having the most support from his parliamentary colleagues in this summer’s leadership race with Truss.

However, critics within the Conservative Party worry he is out of touch with voters and accuse him of being disloyal to Johnson – a key source of contention among many of the party’s grassroots members, in which Johnson remains popular.

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Get an education at one of the UK’s most prestigious schools At a private school like Johnson, Sunak has a stellar resume, with degrees from Oxford and Stanford and a stint at Goldman Sachs. One of Britain’s richest politicians, he is married to Indian tech heiress Akshata Murthy, whose tax situation caused Sunak some political discomfort during the summer leadership campaign.

A video clip from a 2007 BBC documentary circulated online in which Sunak suggested he didn’t have any “working-class friends” as some Britons dismissed a string of high-society Conservative contenders.

Nonetheless, Sunak remains popular among Conservative politicians, despite his poor performance among the party’s national membership, with 57.4% supporting Trus in September compared to Sunak’s 42.6%.

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For his supporters, Sunak was a stabilizing hand for the economy, as he correctly predicted the market crisis triggered by Truss’ policies when she cut taxes and sent the pound tumbling. Before he took office, Truss referred to his proposed economic reforms as “fairytale” economics, an assessment that might give credence to his image of fiscal responsibility.

One blemish on his record, however, is his link to the “Party Gate” scandal that overthrew Johnson’s government. Like his boss, Sunak was fined by London’s Metropolitan Police for attending a rally at 10 Downing Street during his tenure, while the Briton was subject to the government’s draconian coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Some critics, such as former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, point out that Britain’s record levels of inflation began during Sunak’s tenure as prime minister.



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