Rishi Sunak has become the leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party after Penny Mordaunt failed to secure the required nominations to contest for the post. Sunak is now set to become the newest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He will be replacing Liz Truss, who became the PM after defeating Sunak in a vote within the Conservative Party.

Truss will go down in history as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, a leader whose grasp on power was so tenuous in recent days it spawned a jokey online contest to see whether she would outlast a head of lettuce. The lettuce won. 

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However, the outgoing Prime Minister has released a statement on Twitter where she has congratulated Sunak on landing the top job in the British government. She has also pledged her full support to the 42-year-old, who is set to become the first person of colour to become UK’s Prime Minister.

Check out her tweet right here:

During Sunak and Truss’ run for the UK premiership less than a couple of months ago, the Indian-origin politician had criticised the latter’s promise of tax cuts as “fairy tales”, and even said in a BBC interview, “I would rather lose having fought for the things that I passionately believe are right for our country, and being true to my values, than win on a false promise”.

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Sunak was elected to Parliament for the safe Tory seat of Richmond in Yorkshire in 2015. In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, he supported leaving the European Union — a risky career move, since it went against the Conservative government’s policy.

When “leave” unexpectedly won, Sunak’s career took off. He served in several junior ministerial posts before being appointed chancellor of the exchequer — head of the Treasury — by Johnson in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit.