Rishi Sunak has won the race to be the leader of the Conservative Party and will become Britain’s next Prime Minister — the third this year
The former Treasury chief will be Britain’s first leader of colour, and faces the task of stabilising the party and country at a time of economic and political turbulence.
His only rival, Ms. Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew on Monday.
As the leader of the governing party, he will take over as Prime Minister from Liz Truss, who quit last week after 45 tumultuous days in office.
Mr. Rishi Sunak ran for Britain's top job and lost. Now he has another shot — and the chance to say “I told you so.”
The former U.K. Treasury chief was runner-up to Ms. Liz Truss in the contest to replace the scandal-plagued Mr. Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister.
Ms. Truss quit after a turbulent 45-day term, and Mr. Johnson has abandoned a comeback attempt, leaving Mr. Sunak a strong favorite to finally assume the office he missed out on less than two months ago.
Victory in the Conservative leadership contest would be vindication for Mr. Sunak, who warned in the last campaign that Ms. Truss' tax-cutting economic plans were reckless and would cause havoc. And so they did.
“I would rather lose having fought for the things that I passionately believe are right for our country, and being true to my values, than win on a false promise,” Mr. Sunak said in a BBC interview.