Nigeria: Rishi Sunak Set to Be UK Prime Minister

24 October 2022

Rishi Sunak, who enjoys the support of the majority of the Conservative Party parliamentarians, will be the first British Asian Prime Minister of the UK.

Rishi Sunak is set to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This follows the withdrawal of Penny Mordaunt from the leadership race of the Conservative Party.

The Conservative Party has the majority in the British parliament and thus the party's leader automatically becomes the head of the UK government.

Mr Sunak, who enjoys the support of the majority of the Conservative Party parliamentarians, will be the first British Asian Prime Minister of the UK.

He will succeed Liz Truss who resigned as prime minister last week after only 45 days in office.

Ms Truss succeeded Boris Johnson who was forced to resign amidst multiple scandals.

Mr Sunak served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 2020 and 2022 under Mr Johnson but later resigned from the cabinet following the multiple scandals.

Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, confirmed Mr Sunak will be the next leader of the Conservative Party and the next prime minister.

He was the only candidate after Ms Mordaunt pulled out just before the 14:00 deadline.

Mr Sunak formally declared his intention to run as prime minister on Sunday but had been in the background garnering support from tories.

He was however in the race that brought Ms Truss to power, where he emerged second after her.

On Monday, as Ms Mordaunt dropped out of the race, she noted she was proud of her campaign and would fully support Mr Sunak.

The opposition Labour Party and the Scottish National Party have both called for general elections.

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