West News Wire: The shortest-serving prime minister in British history, Liz Truss, will be replaced by Rishi Sunak as leader of the United Kingdom.
On Monday, Sunak won the election after his primary rival Penny Mordaunt was unable to secure the support of 100 Conservative MPs by 2 p.m. BST.
Mordaunt tweeted a statement after she withdrew from the race, emphasizing her unwavering support for Sunak and urging the Conservatives to back the new prime minister. “We all owe it to Rishi, to the nation, and to each other to band together and advance the common good. There is a lot of work to do,” she wrote.
Former UK PM Boris Johnson, who claimed to have enough support for a comeback to 10 Downing Street, announced he was pulling out of the leadership race on Sunday. “This would simply not be the right thing to do,” Johnson said in a statement.
Truss resigned as prime minister on October 20 after the mini-budget put forward by her cabinet, in an attempt to alleviate soaring inflation and the energy crisis, failed and sent the markets into turmoil. She spent only six weeks in office, becoming the shortest-serving PM in the nation’s history.
Sunak, a 42-year-old of Indian descent, was Truss’ rival in the race to replace Johnson in office, but did not succeed the first time around. He previously held the positions of chief secretary to the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer.
Johnson, who served as prime minister from 2019 to 2022, was forced to step down in early September, following a series of scandals and a wave of resignations in his cabinet.
