Rishi Sunak Continues To Lead The Race To Become UK Prime Minister. Here Is What Happens Next
Indian origin former Chancellor of the exchequer of UK, Rishi Sunak has once again consolidated his position in the race to become the next Prime Minister.
In the second round ballot in the Conservative leadership race, Sunak won 101 votes, the most by any contestant so far.
Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (83 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (64 votes), former minister Kemi Badenoch (49 votes) and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat (32 votes) remain on the ballot in the narrowing race after the second round of votes were cast by lawmakers.
Another India-origin candidate Suella Braverman, was knocked off the shortlist with the least votes at 27.
What happens next?
The next round of voting will be held on July 21 which will narrow the contest to just two candidates.
In the final round, all the registered Conservative Party members will be allowed to vote to choose between the two candidates and the results will be announced on September 5.
Sunak said he was “incredibly grateful” to the colleagues who backed him.
“I am prepared to give everything I have in service to our nation. Together we can restore trust, rebuild our economy and reunite the country,” he said.
All eyes will now be on which way Braverman and her backers will swing, handing those 27 votes to shore up one of the remaining five.
Who is Rishi Sunak?
Sunak was born in Southampton in 1980 to Indian parents who had emigrated from east Africa.
He is also the son-in-law of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy.
Before joining politics Sunak worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Rishi Sunak’s political journey
Sunak was elected Conservative MP from Richmond in 2015, and supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum. He was re-elected in 2017 and became a junior minister under then PM Theresa May.
In 2019, he supported Boris Johnson’s bid to become PM. Johnson later appointed him chief secretary to the treasury and he also became a member of the Privy Council, an advisory body to the Queen. Sunak was named chancellor of the exchequer in 2020 in a cabinet reshuffle.
Last week Sunak was one of the biggest names to desert Johnson, who was later forced to announce his resignation as the UK Prime Minister.
Notably Johnson has is yet to endorese Sunak to succeed him as the leader of the Conservative Party.
If indeed, Sunak goes on to become the next Prime minister, he will be the first person of Indian origin to do so.
