Rishi sunak britain prime minister

LONDON— Seven weeks after being defeated in his first bid to lead Britain, former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak is set to replace Liz Truss as prime minister and make history as the Sunak, 42, emerged victorious Monday in a lightning-fast contest by the ruling Conservatives to select a new party leader and, by extension, the U.K.’s new prime minister. The process began after Truss In a dizzying turnaround of political fortune, Sunak was the only leadership candidate to receive the minimum 100 signatures required from fellow Conservative lawmakers by a Monday afternoon deadline. Rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure enough backers, and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson Sunak will become Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months, following the resignations of Truss and Johnson. Of Indian descent, Sunak will be the first nonwhite leader of Britain, which, by contrast, has already had three female prime ministers. “It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love and give back to the country I owe so much to,” Sunak said in a brief statement at Conservative Party headquarters two hours after his ascension was announced. “The United Kingdom is a great country, but there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge. We now need stability and unity.” It is a remarkably fast rise to the top of British politics for a man who spent most of his adult life working in finance, at Goldman Sachs and hedge firms. Sunak will take up the premiers...