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New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to visit King as Penny Mordaunt pulls out of leadership race

24 Oct 2022 2 minute read
Photo from February of the then Prince of Wales, now King, speaking to then Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy. Picture by Tristan Fewings.

Rishi Sunak will be the next Prime Minister after Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the leadership race.

The new prime minister will be the second premier of King Charles III’s reign which is only just over six weeks old.

In a historic first he will also be the first non-white and non-Christian Prime Minister, being a British Indian and a practicing Hindu.

Rishi Sunak won the support of more than half the parliamentary party – far more than the 100 nominations needed by the 2pm deadline.

A source for the Penny Mordaunt campaign said the Commons Leader got the backing of 90 MPs.

They told the PA news agency: “1922 has offered to verify the numbers but Penny got 90. She is fully backing Rishi.”

Penny Mordaunt she dropped out moments before the 2pm deadline, saying: “Our Party is our membership. Whether we are elected representatives, activists, fundraisers or supporter. We all have a stake in who our leader is.

“These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty today. They have taken this decision in good faith for the good of the country.

“Members should know that this proposition has been fairly and thoroughly tested by the agreed 1922 process.

“As a result, we have now chosen our next Prime Minister. This decision is an historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support.

“I am proud of the campaign we ran and grateful to all those, across all sides of our party, who gave me their backing.

“We all owe it to the country, to each other and to Rishi to unite and work together for the good of the nation. There is much work to be done.”

Rishi Sunak will take office with their party trailing Labour in the polls by the largest gap for 25 years.

The Tories’ seven-day poll average currently stands at 20%, 33 points behind Labour on 53%.


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George Thomas
George Thomas
2 years ago

Sunak:

  • Supported Brexit
  • Supported Boris Johnson
  • Spent just two years as Chancellor during which he met with Great Barrington Declaration group, tried to push for economy to open which was significant in causing such a bad second wave, savagely cut foreign aid when it was desperately needed, delayed and delayed response to cost-of-living crisis…
  • Is now calling for second round of austerity when there is no fat left to cut

He’s not someone who understands the economy well or what majority of us are going through. He’s more sensible than Truss or Boris Johnson but that’s not a high bar.

Juan Bernardo Siencyn
Juan Bernardo Siencyn
2 years ago
Reply to  George Thomas

Adam Price:

“We are slaves”

Liz Saville Roberts

“Did I remember to roll my Rs?”

Royston Jones

“Some from England planted a tree in Powys and the Welsh Government gave them a tenner”

Give them the UK. They’ll sort it.

Jack Ormrod
Jack Ormrod
2 years ago
Reply to  George Thomas

Give him time ,he is a gentleman and that is a good start

THOMAS William Glyn
THOMAS William Glyn
2 years ago

How will the Anglo-Saxon, Caucasian Tories react to being governed by a Hindu Prime Minister?

Y Tywysog Lloegr a Moscow
Y Tywysog Lloegr a Moscow
2 years ago

Furious they didn’t get a chance to vote against him no doubt.

George Thomas
George Thomas
2 years ago

They’ll say that race/ethnicity doesn’t matter… as long as policies being brought through make the lives of non-Anglo-Saxon, Caucasian Tories much worse.

Rishi’s lived experience might soften things slightly but he’s still here to protect the establishment and make our lives worse.

Stuart Cane
Stuart Cane
2 years ago

He’s rich and will govern in the interests of the rich which is what they will care about most

The original mark
The original mark
2 years ago
Reply to  Stuart Cane

Exactly, he went to 2 of the top prep schools before moving on to king Edward vi school and finally ending up at 43k a year winchester, his lived experience is so far detached from ordinary working people it’s incomparable, and like all tories he has plenty of skeletons to fall out of the cupboards. There is a lot we haven’t been told about poor little rich boy sunak.

Last edited 2 years ago by The original mark
Juan Bernardo Siencyn
Juan Bernardo Siencyn
2 years ago

The Conservatives are in No 10 with an Asian PM.

Maybe Adam Price of “we are slaves” fame can help him negotiate a white Welsh electorate.

Ivor Schilling
Ivor Schilling
2 years ago

Your posts don’t make sense. Been on the pop?

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

I suspect he won’t be PM for long. Sometime next year there will be a GE – especially as Sunak became PM with one of the smallest votes of all time. Around 150 people. He has no mandate for anything especially the budget to be announced on the 31st and with it more austerity.

George Atkinson
George Atkinson
2 years ago

He was a far 2nd place behind that zombie Truss. How is he even in the reckoning? We need an election now!

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago

This appointment reinforces the point that there is little or no purpose in any rational national community remaining within the control of such a haphazard undemocratic system. While a majority of people based in England may be satisified with a Tory- Labour seesaw system working to a London centric agenda that should not require us to follow suit blindly. Instead of waffling on about idealistic policies and theories, Price and his colleagues now need desperately to flesh out their vision for economic recovery, education health and social services and relate it to the predicament of the vast majority in our… Read more »

GarethW
GarethW
2 years ago

Give it a short while and Charles the turd will be welcoming yet another prime minister. How much damage will this one do in the meantime doesn’t bear thinking about

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago

… and Carlo asks of Rishi – oh dear, dear,…. and how long do you intend sticking around ….

Paul
Paul
2 years ago

Sunak is not the first non-Christian PM. James Callaghan was an atheist.

Last edited 2 years ago by Paul
Mawkernewek
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Don’t forget Boris Johnson whose worship is of his own ego.

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