AboutHe became the third leader of the Conservative Party in the last two months, Rishi Sunak became the only candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain. How one of the richest Britons, regularly criticized for his addiction to luxury, made his way to Downing Street – in the material of RBC Rishi Sunak Why Rishi Sunak secured the post of Prime Minister On Monday, October 24, ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak became the leader of the Conservative Party of Great Britain and secured his election as Prime Minister. His only rival, the leader of the House of Commons and Lord Chairman of the Succession Board Penny Mordaunt has left the race. Charles III can return to London from Sandringham Palace in Norfolk and accept Liz Truss’s resignation in the evening and give Sunak the go-ahead to form a government. 42-year-old Sunak will become not only the youngest prime minister in the last 200 years, but also the first British leader of Asian descent. Truss has already congratulated Sunak on his victory and expressed her “full support” to him on her Twitter account. The Guardian newspaper wrote that Sunak would make an official statement at 14:30 London time (16:30 Moscow time), but instead the new leader of the Conservative Party held a closed meeting with the Tories. As Bloomberg reported with reference to a participant in the meeting, he called on party members to unite after two resignations of prime ministers and rejected the possibility of early elections, which Labor is calling for. Pictures of members of the “1922 Committee”, which plays a key role in the process of determining the party leader, with Sunak in the center, have already appeared on the Web. “I would like to congratulate Rishi Sunak on becoming the new leader of our party. It is time for the whole party to come together and unite around Rishi as he continues the important work of solving the problems we face as a country. The time of internal debate has really passed, and I know that under the leadership of Rishi Sunak, we can and will realize the aspirations of the British people,” said the chairman of the Conservative Party, Jake Berry. Sunak’s appointment was accompanied by a sit-in protest by Greenpeace members in Westminster. About 30 people occupied the lobby of the parliament. Because of this, Sky News had to interrupt the broadcast at the request of the security service. In social networks, Greenpeace posted this appeal: “While the government is in chaos, almost 7 million people are facing fuel shortages. We need the next government to introduce a proper contingency tax to insulate homes and keep people warm this winter. Read on RBC Pro Pro The burden of abuse: “toxic” management is experiencing a new heyday in Russia Articles Pro Eight steps to launch sales on Ozon and Wildberries Instructions Pro These 5 mistakes of sales managers repel customers in crisis Instructions Pro What tactics of parents will help resolve most quarrels between childrenInstructions Pro Which methods of making coffee are the most dangerous to health Articles Pro 10 years in prison for disrupting the state defense order — changes to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Articles Pro Four beliefs that make people feel lonely Articles Pro Lada is getting more expensive, Chinese brands are dumping. What will Russia ride Articles How candidates dropped out of the race After Truss announced her resignation as prime minister on October 20, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, and the head of the Conservatives, Jake Berry, explained how the procedure for choosing a new party leader and prime minister would take place. Those who want to fight for the highest post will need to enlist the support of at least 100 Conservative MPs. Total ythe Tory faction in the House of Commons has 357 seats, which means that there could not be more than three participants in the race. The end of the counting was scheduled for 14:00 London time (16:00 Moscow time) on Monday. Only Sunak was able to provide a list of the required size: he managed to enlist the support of almost 200 deputies. Mordaunt failed to overcome the threshold— only 90 Tories spoke in her favor.
At the same time, 49-year-old Mordaunt was the first to declare her ambitions. She not only dealt with matters related to mourning events after the death of Elizabeth II, but also signed documents on the ascension of King Charles III to the throne. Mordaunt participated in the campaign for the post of prime minister after Boris Johnson’s departure, but failed to qualify for the second round, although bookmakers considered her the most likely winner. The first woman as Minister of DefenseIn the UK (she headed the department in 2019) and the only reservist of the British Navy in parliament, Mordaunt has a reputation as a strong figure among the Tories. Since 2016, she has been considered an ardent supporter of Brexit. In particular, Mordaunt criticized London’s desire to leave the EU, but stay with it in the Customs Union. In the Johnson government, she served as Junior Minister for Trade Relations and oversaw trade agreements with the United States.
Rishi Sunak was the second to announce his intention to fight for the prime minister’s seat. He was the main rival of Truss in the elections in the summer of 2022, but could not oppose anything to her promise to lower taxes. Despite the fact that polls predicted a huge gap between Truss and Sunak, he scored 42.6% of the vote, and Truss- 57.4%. It is noteworthy that it was his resignation from the post of finance minister in July that marked the beginning of the government crisis, which was followed by Johnson’s resignation.
Sunak was born in Southampton, to a family of Indian descent who had moved from East Africa. He received public recognition for his policy of supporting the population and business during the pandemic, which he consistently explained during numerous press conferences. At the same time, he was repeatedly criticized for his luxurious lifestyle. The most famous episode was the construction of a swimming pool in his house in Yorkshire amid rising pricesfor energy and food. It will take £13 thousand to heat the pool, the Mirror edition estimates. A lot of attention was also attracted by the fact that the wife of Sunak Akshat Murti is the daughter of billionaire Narayana Murti, co-founder of the multinational IT company Infosys. The couple are considered to be one of the richest people in the UK. Sunak was also among those who had to pay a fine for participating in unauthorized parties during the pandemic.