Evening summary
Good evening and thank you for reading today’s live coverage of the appointment of the UK’s third prime minister in as many months, Rishi Sunak.
My name is Charlie Moloney and I have taken you through the last few hours of updates. We are closing the blog now but here is a summary of some of the most significant UK leadership news from today:
Suella Braverman returned as home secretary. Downing Street announced her reappointment as home secretary, less than a week after she was forced to resign from the role.
Sunak’s leadership rival Penny Mordaunt has been reappointed Commons leader. Downing Street said Mordaunt would be lord president of the council and leader of the House of Commons.
Jacob Rees-Mogg resigned as business secretary by sending Sunak a handwritten note. The so-called Member for the 18th Century dated the letter “St Crispin’s Day”.
Rishi Sunak said he has spoken with Mark Drakeford and Nicola Sturgeon. Scotland’s first minister confirmed she had spoken to Rishi Sunak in what she said was a “constructive call”.
Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden discussed the war in Ukraine during a call on Tuesday evening, as the US president called the UK his country’s “closest ally”.
Updated
Tory MP Richard Holden said that Rishi Sunak would “fix’’ the “damage done’’ by Liz Truss’s government and promised an end to the political turmoil of recent weeks.
He told BBC Newsnight: “Undoubtedly damage has been done, but we’ve got to fix that.
“We’ve got to fix that as quickly as possible. And that’s exactly what Rishi is doing tonight.
“And I think with a cabinet which can provide economic credibility, it can provide competence and it can provide unity. That’s the best thing to do. Because all of those things actually play back in a positive feedback loop with the financial markets. When they see instability, then you have a bigger problem, and then it feeds back on itself in the parliamentary party.’’
He continued: “He’ll be able to get his legislation through parliament. You won’t see any further political turmoil.’’
Updated
