Rishi Sunak has fired the starting pistol on the general election – announcing it will take place on 4 July 2024.
The prime minister announced the date outside Number 10 on May 22nd, with the rain pouring down and music and protestors almost drowning him out from just outside the Downing Street gates.
Rishi Sunak will be the UK’s next prime minister after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest.
The news was announced at 2pm today. He won the Tory leadership contest after rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure enough backing from MPs.
In a TV address that lasted less than two minutes, Mr Sunak promised to serve with “integrity” and thanked outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss for leading the country during “exceptionally difficult circumstances”.
“The United Kingdom is a great country but there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge,” he said. “We now need stability and unity and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”
The King will appoint Mr Sunak, who will take over from Ms Truss following her resignation just 45 days into her tumultuous premiership last week.
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the favourite to become Britain’s next PM, with over 100 votes from fellow Conservative MPs, the only leadership contender to have confirmed having reached this milestone.
Former PM Boris Johnson pulled out over the weekend, leaving just Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt in the race.
Candidates are looking for backers now to join the streamlined process.
Hopefuls need 100 backers to enter the race.
If only one candidate gets 100 backers then there is no vote, and they automatically become the next leader.
If more than 2 candidates, Conservative MPs vote repeatedly until only 2 candidates remain.
From 2 candidates, Conservative MPs vote a final time and indicate their preferred candidate.
Conservative members across the country vote online to pick a winner, unless one of the candidates drops out.
The winner becomes leader of the Conservative party and next PM.
Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party. New leader to be chosen in a weeks time.
Liz Truss’s departure after 45 days in office makes her the shortest-serving PM in UK history.
Sir Graham Brady MP set out some of the broad principles of the contest this afternoon:
Sir Graham added that further details about the contest will be set out later.
The Foreign Secretary won the backing of 81,326 Tory members, compared with 60,399 for Mr Sunak.
The turnout in this year’s contest was 82.6%, with 141,725 party members casting a ballot.
Rishi Sunak needs a massive game-changer to turn this contest round if latest poll results are correct
Truss 58 per cent, Sunak 26 per cent – 12 per cent undecided
The accuracy of the poll is strengthened by similar poll results from YouGov
Here are the figures.
Liz Truss: 58 per cent (ConHome), 60 per cent (YouGov).
Rishi Sunak: 26 per cent (ConHome), 26 per cent (YouGov).
Don’t know: 12 per cent (ConHome), 11 per cent (YouGov).
But Ms Truss told supporters she is “not taking anything for granted” and a backer of Mr Sunak, Tory MP Mel Stride, said it was “all to play for”.
He told Sky News: “We know through our MPs working amongst their membership is that Rishi’s position is far stronger than many are imagining.
But Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak disagreed over recession warning in their latest TV clash
Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have set out competing plans to deal with the economic recession forecast by the Bank of England in their latest TV clash.
Ms Truss said a recession was “not inevitable” if “bold” action was taken.
But Mr Sunak said the foreign secretary’s “unfunded” tax cuts would pour “fuel on the fire” of inflation.
At the end of 90 minutes, Liz Truss had a vision, but there was a reluctance to give all the answers. Rishi Sunak was across the issues, but wasn’t promising a bold new vision to a party fretful about the polls and the economy says Sam Coates, Deputy political editor @SamCoatesSky
Rishi Sunak won the audience, but Liz Truss appears to have a grip on the Tory membership in the country. The audience, made up of Conservative Party members, convincingly backed former chancellor Mr Sunak in a show of hands, rather than Ms Truss.
Liz Truss leads Rishi Sunak by 62% to 38% among Tory members, says polling company YouGov
The survey said Foreign Secretary Ms Truss was the preferred choice of 49% of respondents, compared to 31% for former chancellor Mr Sunak, with 15% saying they didn’t know and 6% not intending to vote.
Once “don’t knows” and those not intending to take part are taken out, this gives Liz Truss a sizeable 24-point lead.