After his challenger Boris Johnson withdrew from the race, Rishi Sunak is expected to become the next prime minister of Britain.
Following one of the most volatile periods in British political history, Johnson acknowledged that he was unable to maintain their party’s unity.
On Monday, Sunak, a 42-year-old former finance minister, may become the third prime minister of Britain in less than two months, with the responsibility of bringing stability to a nation suffering from years of political and economic unrest.
The wealthy former head of a hedge fund would probably enact significant spending cuts in an effort to repair Britain’s fiscal reputation as the nation is being pulled into a recession by rising energy and food prices.
Sunak declared his candidacy to lead the Conservative Party and become prime minister in a brief statement that began, “The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis.”
Since voting to leave the European Union in 2016, which sparked a war in Westminster over the future of the nation that is still unresolved to this day, Britain has been caught in a perpetual state of crisis.
The most recent event has caused shock in foreign capitals and derision in the international press.
Following a string of scandals, Johnson, the public face of the Brexit campaign, was forced from office less than three years after leading his party to a resounding victory in 2019.
His successor Liz Truss only in office for 44 days before resigning in protest of an economic strategy that destroyed the nation’s economic credibility.
Despite possibly taking office in the coming hours, Sunak has not yet stated his ambitions for leading the nation. He will inherit a party split along ideological lines, and some members continue to hold him responsible for Johnson’s downfall.
Some ministers and parliamentarians who had supported the former prime minister’s return to Downing Street but later had to reverse course and support Sunak felt humiliated as a result of his withdrawal late on Sunday, according to NAN.
