The race to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and British prime minister has narrowed to two candidates. So it's now up to ordinary Conservative Party members to decide who will lead their party and assume the role of prime minister on September 5.
The favorite among a plurality of Conservative members of Parliament is Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer who resigned from Johnson's government. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Sunak was responsible for a raft of spending policies which temporarily made him the most popular politician in the country. Sunak was elected to Parliament in 2015 and has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of British politics. In his maiden speech addressing Parliament, Sunak, a former hedge fund manager and employee of Goldman Sachs, stressed the importance of controlling the deficit and of the government functioning within its means. Sunak campaigned for Brexit and backed Johnson for prime minister but is now seen as one of the key figures who brought down the blond bombshell.
