British politician Rishi Sunak was Monday elected Conservative leader and will become the next prime minister after rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure the necessary 100 nominations from her fellow MPs.
“Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party,” senior backbencher Graham Brady said, as Mordaunt vowed her “full support” for the former finance minister.
How he emerged
Mr Sunak won the support of an overwhelming majority of Tory MPs, enabling him to claim the keys to No10 Downing street.
Sunak will become Britain’s first PM of Indian heritage.
Ms Mordaunt dropped out of the contest at the last minute this afternoon after she failed to secure the support of 100 colleagues.
The ex-Chancellor took an early lead in the Tory leadership race, having lost the last one to Liz Truss just weeks ago.
Within hours of Ms Truss announcing her resignation last Thursday, MPs came out in droves to support Mr Sunak.
But his chances of moving to Downing Street were dramatically slashed when Boris Johnson informally launched a spectacular comeback bid.
The ex-PM left his glamorous holiday in the Dominican Republic to fly back to London and shore up support.
Tory heavyweights split between two camps, with James Cleverly and Priti Patel going team Boris, and Grant Shapps and Kemi Badenoch waving the flag for Rishi.
