Rishi Sunak Wins Mandate to Become New British Prime Minister

On Monday, Rishi Sunak, former chancellor of the exchequer of the United Kingdom (UK), won the Conservative Party's leadership contest. He will replace Liz Truss as prime minister.

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Sunak was the only contender who secured the required backing of 100 lawmakers by the deadline of 2 p.m. local time, thus becoming the winner automatically. Another contender, Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons, failed to garner enough votes.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson withdrew from the contest on Sunday night, despite claiming that he had secured the backing of 102 Tory lawmakers. Johnson said it was "simply not the right time" for him to stand for the leadership race as "you can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament."

The leadership race was triggered when Truss announced her resignation on Thursday after a little over six weeks in office. Her economic blueprint, the "mini-budget," was blamed for causing economic chaos and tanking the Conservative Party's poll rating.

Owner of a fortune estimated at 841 million euros, Sunak grew up in the city of Southampton and professes the Hindu religion. He is the grandson of Punjab immigrants, who came to the United Kingdom in the 1960s from East Africa.

He was educated at a private school in Winchester and, as is typical among the British political class, he graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford.

Later, he attended a Master of Business Administration at Stanford University, where he met his wife, who is the daughter of the co-founder of the multinational Infosys.