Rishi Sunak has won the keys to No10 without a single vote being cast.
He was picked by Tory MPs to succeed Liz Truss, who was foisted on the nation by the party’s members last month.
Twice as rich as the King, Mr Sunak will now preside overbrutal public spending cuts.
Labour’s Angela Rayner said: “Rishi Sunak has no mandate. We need a general election.”
Rishi Sunak will this morning head to Buckingham Palace, where the King will ask him to form a government not knowing what the latest Tory Prime Minister plans for the nation.
Mr Sunak has won power without saying a single word in public about how he plans to deal with the cost of living crisis or the economic chaos caused by Liz Truss in her seven weeks in No10.
His silence has left families worried that he and Jeremy Hunt – should he be kept on as Chancellor – are about to impose a new era of austerity, slashing benefits and public services that have already been cut to the bone.
Last week, Mr Hunt warned of spending cuts and financial decisions “of eye-watering difficulty”.
And congratulating Mr Sunak yesterday, he warned: “This is a time for honesty about the huge economic challenges we face, and courage in addressing them.”
Alarmed voters are demanding a general election, but Mr Sunak ruled that out during a private meeting with his MPs last night.
Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, announced Mr Sunak had won the Tory leadership after rivals Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt withdrew, neither thought to have won the necessary backing of 100 MPs.
Mr Sunak, 42, will be Britain’s first Hindu PM, the first of Asian heritage and the youngest since William Pitt the Younger more than 200 years ago.
He will also be the wealthiest, he and his wife Akshata Murty having a £730million fortune, more than twice that of King Charles.
During the contest, Mr Sunak’s only public statements were a 166-word message launching his campaign and a 66-word tweet after Mr Johnson withdrew. He failed to say whether he would impose cuts to fill the black hole in the finances left by Ms Truss.
In a robotic 86-second speech to the nation from Tory Party HQ after his victory, Mr Sunak paid tribute to Ms Truss, whose mini-Budget crashed the economy.
He said: “She has led with dignity and grace through a time of great change and under exceptionally difficult circumstances.”
The new leader, who gave no interviews during the campaign, had delivered his first speech after winning the leadership behind closed doors to MPs. He warned them the Tories must “unite or die” in the face of a “profound economic challenge”.
He said he favoured low taxes only when “affordable” and “when the time is right”.
As Boris Johnson’s Chancellor, Mr Sunak pushed the tax burden to its highest in 70 years, and broke a Tory manifesto promise not to hike National Insurance.
Labour ’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “The Tories have crowned Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister without him saying a single word about how he would run the country and without anyone having the chance to vote.
“This is the same Rishi Sunak who as Chancellor failed to grow the economy, failed to get a grip on inflation, and failed to help families with the Tory cost of living crisis.” Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “Rishi Sunak’s statement will do nothing to reassure people worried sick about their bills and local health services this winter.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “The Conservative Party has trashed the British economy, pushed local health services to the brink, and added hundreds of pounds to people’s monthly mortgage payments.”
Ms Truss will chair a 9am Cabinet meeting today, then make a statement outside No10 at 10.15am before being driven to Buckingham Palace to formally resign to King Charles.
Mr Sunak will follow her to the Palace, where the King will ask him to form a government. The new PM will address the nation from Downing Street at 11.35am.
The fifth PM in six-and-a-half years faces growing calls for a general election. The Mirror’s petition on the 38 Degrees campaign website demanding a ballot has more than 129,000 signatures.
The Lib Dems have tabled a Bill in Parliament demanding an election by December 1. The party’s Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “The Conservatives have caused calamity and chaos and must be held to account.”
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said voters “deserve an opportunity to reject this rotten Westminster system at the ballot box”.
Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope said an election was “the only answer” as the Tory Party was “ungovernable” in the Commons.
Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie rejected demands for a ballot. He said: “We need a period of stability.”
Mr Sunak will be the third PM in two months. A YouGov poll found Keir Starmer was favoured as PM in 389 constituencies, and Mr Sunak in 127. In another YouGov poll, 38% were pleased Mr Sunak is PM, while 41% said they were disappointed.
But 56% wanted Mr Sunak to call an early general election.
