Sunak, 42, becomes Britain’s 3rd prime minister of 2022
Rishi Sunak was installed as Britain’s third prime minister of the year by King Charles on Tuesday, and will next appoint a cabinet that will have to wrestle with the U.K.’s economic and political crises
King Charles assumed the ceremonial role of accepting Liz Truss’s resignation at Buckingham Palace before asking Sunak to form a government
Sunak then returned to the prime minister’s office at 10 Downing St., promising to tackle Britain’s profound economic crisis
and earn the country’s trust in an address to the nation
I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda,
said Sunak. This will mean difficult decisions to come
Sunak pledged in doing so to not leave the next generation — your children and your grandchildren —with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves
Sunak was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging popularity, after the brief, disastrous term of Truss
Truss departed after making a public statement, seven weeks to the day after she was appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth, who died two days later
Truss offered a defence of her low-tax economic vision and her brief term in office before being driven from the prime minister’s official residence for the last time
I am more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the problems we face,
she said. She stood by the free-market principles of lower taxesand delivering growth,
despite the market mayhem triggered by her Sept. 23 budget package
Challenging times for new leader
Sunak — the first prime minister of colour and, at 42, the youngest British leader for more than 200 years — must try to shore up an economy sliding toward recession and reeling after his predecessor’s experiment in libertarian economics, while also attempting to unite a demoralized and divided party that trails far behind the opposition in opinion polls
He characterized Truss’s approach, which spooked the markets, as a well-meaning attempt not born of ill will
to promote growth, but ultimately a mistake
His top priorities will be appointing cabinet ministers and preparing for next week’s budget statement that will set out how the government plans to come up with billions of pounds to fill a fiscal hole created by soaring inflation and a sluggish economy, and exacerbated by Truss’ destabilizing economic experiments
The statement, set to feature tax increases and spending cuts, is currently due to be made in Parliament on Oct. 31 by Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt — if Sunak keeps him in the job
Sunak, who was Treasury chief himself for two years until July, said Monday that Britain faces a profound economic challenge
Sunak becomes prime minister in a remarkable reversal of fortune just weeks after he lost to Truss in a Conservative election to replace former prime minister Boris Johnson. Party members in the summer chose her tax-cutting boosterism over his warnings that inflation must be tamed
Truss conceded last week that she could not deliver on her plans — but only after her attempts triggered market chaos and worsened inflation at a time when millions of Britons were already struggling with soaring borrowing costs and rising energy and food prices
The party is now desperate for someone to right the ship after months of chaos under Truss and Johnson, who quit in July after becoming mired in ethics scandals
I understand, too, that I have work to do to restore trust after all that has happened,
Sunak said in his first speech as prime minister
Sunak was chosen as Conservative leader after becoming the only candidate to clear the hurdle of 100 nominations from fellow MPs to run in the party election. Sunak defeated rival Penny Mordaunt, who may get a job in his government, and the ousted Johnson, who dashed back from a Caribbean vacation to rally support for a comeback bid but failed to get enough backing to run
RISHI SUNAK SET TO BECOME BRITAIN’S NEXT PRIME MINISTER
11 hours agoDuration2:49Rishi Sunak is set to become Britain’s first prime minister of colour. But despite making history, he inherits a country and a party plagued by upheaval, scandal and political backstabbing
Conservative lawmaker Victoria Atkins, a Sunak ally, said the party would settle down
under Sunak
We all understand that we’ve now really got to get behind Rishi — and, in fairness, that’s exactly what the party has done,
she told radio station LBC
The Associated Press
