Rishi Sunak will be named the U.K.’s new prime minister following a fast-track Conservative Party leadership race.
Sunak won the role of Conservative Party leader after his sole competitor, Penny Mordaunt, dropped out of the race early Monday, and following the withdrawal of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson from the leadership race Sunday.
The 42-year-old Sunak will take over just seven weeks after placing second to Liz Truss, who stepped down Thursday after only 44 days in office in the shortest tenure of any U.K. prime minister.
He will become the youngest PM for more than 200 years.
The former finance minister will step into the role as the country grapples with a worsening economic outlook after Truss’ failed mini-budget rattled markets and the economy.
Then, Sunak warned that Truss’s economic plans for Britain were a “fairy tale,” based on “unfunded tax cuts.”
According to tradition, outgoing prime minister Truss first has to tender her resignation to King Charles, who will appoint Sunak in the coming days.
After losing ground in recent weeks the pound rose to $1.1326 against the dollar shortly after the announcement of Sunak’s win.
A former investment banker born in Southampton and educated in Oxford Sunak will be the first Asian prime minister in the U.K. He has been under the spotlight following controversy over his wealthy wife’s tax status.
Sunak is expected to keep in place the newly installed Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt.
