SUNAK PRIME TIME
Leads PM race as BoJo drops out
British Conservative Party lawmaker and ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak stands to replace outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Sunak, 42, is the strong favorite to be Brit- ain’s next prime minister after Boris Johnson — who was ousted in July amid an ethics scandals — announced Sunday that he would not run to lead the Conservative Party.
Johnson (inset) had been widely expected to run to replace Truss, who quit last week after just 44 days in office.
Sunak, who came in second after Truss in the race to replace Johnson two months ago, had correctly warned that her plans to slash taxes on wealthy Britons would result in fiscal chaos.
He served as chancellor of the exchequer under Johnson before quitting in July — a move that helped trigger the mass rebellion that prompted the prime minister’s resignation days later.
Second chance
Sunak had vied to become leader of the party, but lost to Truss in an internal election process that took a month and a half.
Truss, 47, stepped down from office after a tumultuous six-week reign, which was marred by plummeting financial markets, a severely devalued pound and political turmoil.
The end of her historically brief stint at 10 Downing Street on Thursday set a much quicker election process into motion.
Sunak and other candidates have until Monday afternoon to gather the support of at least 100 Conservative Parliament members out of the caucus’ 357 lawmakers.
If only one candidate receives the required support Monday, that person becomes the new prime minister. If multiple candidates reach the threshold, an “expedited” online vote for the top two candidates will be held among the UK’s 172,000 Conservative Party members.
A result is expected by Friday. The winner would then meet King Charles III to be formally appointed.
“The United Kingdom is a great country, but we face a profound economic crisis,” Sunak wrote on Twitter. “That’s why I am standing to be leader of the Conservative Party and your next prime minister.”