Rishi Sunak is to become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer will succeed Liz Truss after he became the only remaining candidate in the latest Conservative leadership contest. Today his rival for the role, Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the contest.
The former Chancellor resigned from Boris Johnson's cabinet in the summer, providing the first blow in a chain of events that would eventually see the Prime Minister forced from office. Mr Sunak then finished as runner up in the race to succeed Mr Johnson, losing out to Liz Truss in a vote of the Tory membership last month.
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After Ms Truss resigned just six weeks into a disastrous premiership, Mr Sunak quickly became favourite to take over. But when Mr Johnson flew back from a holiday in the Dominican Republic to garner support, it looked as though the race could go down to the wire.
Last night the former PM released a statement suggesting that while he believed he did have the support of more than 100 MPs required to get through to the next stage of the process, he did not believe this was the "right time" to stand again.
This left only Mr Sunak and Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt in the race. It soon became clear Ms Mordaunt was unable to get the required 102 MPs to back her and make it through to a final vote and today, just ahead of the result being announced - she dropped out.
In her statement, she said: "These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty today. They have taken this decision in good faith for the good of the country.
"As a result, we have now chosen our next Prime Minister. This decision is an historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support."
As such, Mr Sunak has been elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party and the new Prime Minister. He will soon move into Number 10 Downing Street and officially take over power from Ms Truss.
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