Sunak to become next UK MP as opponent drops out of race

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Former British chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to become the United Kingdom's next Prime Minister after the remaining candidates dropped out of the race for the Conservative Party's leadership and the country's premiership.

Sunak will be tasked with managing the country through its ongoing crises, which include a deep divide among the populace and an economic crisis set to plunge millions deeper into poverty.

Sunak is one of Westminster's wealthiest politicians, and he will be tasked by King Charles to form a cabinet and lead the country through its ongoing crises as a replacement for Liz Truss, the premier who only lasted 44 days in her post.

Sunak surpassed the centrist Penny Mordaunt, who was left in the dust after he failed to get enough impetus in Parliament due to support from lawmakers falling flat. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson withdrew from the race due to his acknowledgment that he could not reunite the party.

"This decision is a historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support," Mordaunt said in a statement before withdrawing from the leadership race.

Johnson and Sunak convened on Saturday to talk over the Conservative leadership contest, and sources said they were seeking to abolish the need to take a possibly divisive vote between them to party members.

Tory MPs called on Johnson and Sunak to set aside differences and agree on one of them being the next PM while the other would serve in a senior cabinet position. However, that possibility came close to impossible due to previous tension between the two men when Sunak resigned as finance minister during Johnson's term.  

Johnson returned to the United Kingdom amid speculation that he might try to vie for Conservative Party leadership and a second term at Downing Street after Liz Truss's resignation, British media reported on Saturday. 

He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He stepped down following several scandals over parties at his office during Covid-19 lockdowns. Liz Truss succeeded him but was unable to survive after a series of controversial economic policy decisions.

Sunak will be Britain's third prime minister in less than two months, and he will be tasked with saving the country from the political and economic crises affecting it.

With that, Truss became the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the country. She said she would stay in office until her replacement was picked.

Meanwhile, Sunak's rise to fame came at age 39, when he became finance minister in Johnson's government during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was able to help the economy not take as many hits as it could have, developing the highly successful furlough scheme.

Truss not only promised to act quickly to tackle Britain's cost of living crisis, but she also pledged to freeze the energy bills to relieve British households from the economic burdens, even indicating during her campaign the plan to scrap tax increases and cut other levies in a move some economists say would fuel inflation.

In the midst of a global climate crisis, Truss said she would "temporarily" suspend the green tax on energy bills, as well as lower the National Insurance introduced during Johnson's term.

Truss admitted that reversing the National Insurance rise would be highly beneficial for those earning a lot of money, accompanying this with a justification that this would benefit the economy overall.

However, all her policies fell flat and went right around and slapped her in the face, causing her to tender her resignation and leaving the slew of crises for Sunak to deal with.