London, Europe Brief News- Rishi Sunak is expected to become Britain’s next prime minister after Boris Johnson withdrew from the race on Sunday.
“The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis. That’s why I am standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and your next Prime Minister,” the former finance minister said in a statement published on Sunday, setting up a potentially bruising battle with his former boss Boris Johnson.
“I want to fix our economy, unite our Party and deliver for our country,” Rishi Sunak said a day after he had amassed enough support to stand for the contest.
Sunak first came to national attention when, aged 39. He became finance minister under Johnson just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Britain, developing a furlough scheme to support millions of people through multiple lockdowns.
Earlier last week, Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned as UK prime minister in a statement outside Downing Street.
She said she could not deliver the mandate as Tory leader and had notified the King that she was resigning.
Truss became the shortest-serving prime minister in the UK’s history after she resigned following her disastrous tax cuts plans and policy U-turns plunged the markets into chaos, with the pound plunging to its lowest value.
The unprecedented economic crisis drew a rare intervention from the Bank of England.
