Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister, is one of the favorites to replace Johnson as the next British prime minister. He won the most votes in the first round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson. Sunak, scored 88 votes, whereas junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt on 67 and foreign secretary Liz truss on 50. Finance minister Nadhim Zahawi and Former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt were eliminated from the PM’s minister. The next round of voting by the 358 Conservative members of Parliament to pick their favorites on the ballot paper is scheduled for Thursday when the field of candidates will be narrowed down to two.
Under the timetable set by the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, the deadline to narrow down the shortlist to just two remaining candidates is July 21.
The process will then be taken over by the Conservative Party headquarters to organize a series of hustings in different parts of the UK for the final two to pitch their campaign to 1,60,000 Conservative Party members. The field is expected to be narrowed to two by the end of next week, and then Tory members will decide which candidate they want as their new party leader. The results will be out on September 5, 2022.
Mr. Sunak, Infosys’s co-founder Narayan Murthy’s son-in-law told BBC that he “felt great” about the results. Ms. Mordaunt said she is “very honored” by the results. A spokeswoman for Ms. Truss said: “Now is the time for colleagues to unite behind the candidate who will cut taxes, deliver the real economic change we need from day one and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine.” He further added that “Liz has the experience to deliver the benefits of Brexit from day one, grow our economy, and support working families.” Mr. Zahawi, who took over as chancellor after Mr. Sunak resigned said that “ the role is now his priority” he added “ “I don’t plan any further intervention, but I wish all the candidates in the leadership contest the very best of luck.”
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Rishi was then appointed as the Chief Secretary to the treasury by Prime Minister Johnson on 24 July 2019, serving under Chancellor Sajid Javid. He became a member of the Privy Council the next day. He was then re-elected in the 2019 general election with an increased majority to 47.2%. Sunak was promoted to Chancellor on 13 February 2020 as part of a cabinet reshuffle after the resignation of his predecessor, Javid on the same day. On July 5th, 2022, Sunak resigned as chancellor moments after Sajid Javid resigned as the health secretary. His resignation began a historic wave of resignations from the government, which led Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce his resignation as the party leader and the PM post.
Until now, the chances for Rishi Sunak seem good. The chances are the race will come down to candidates, Rishi Sunak and Junior trade minister Penny Durant. Coming from a diverse background, and from a wealthy family, Rishi Sunak has always been under the light of criticism but that didn’t affect the work he does for the public. If he wins he might very well become the first Indian-origin man to become the prime minister of the UK.
