Rishi Sunak is set to be formally made Prime Minister on Tuesday at an audience with King Charles after warning the country faces “a profound economic challenge”.
Sunak won the race to replace Liz Truss in No 10 on Monday after rival Penny Mordaunt failed to win the backing of MPs and Boris Johnson’s withdrawal on Sunday.
The new Conservative leader will become Britain’s first Asian Prime Minister and at the age of 42 its youngest in more than 200 years.
He is due to be installed as Britain’s 57th Prime Minister on Tuesday in a handover of power overseen by the King.
Outgoing premier Ms Truss is expected to chair her final Cabinet meeting at 9am before making a statement outside No 10 at 10.15am. She is then due to go to Buckingham Palace to offer her resignation to King Charles, who will then meet Mr Sunak and invite him to form a Government.
Mr Sunak is then set to make a statement in Downing Street at 11.35am.
On Monday afternoon, during his first speech as Tory leader, Mr Sunak warned that the nation faces a “profound economic challenge” but vowed to “bring the country together”.
In an 86-second address to the nation, he said: “We now need stability and unity and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”
He praised Ms Truss for having served the nation with “dignity and grace” during “exceptionally difficult circumstances”.
He said he was “humbled and honoured” to have been chosen as the next prime minister, which he described as the “greatest privilege of my life”.
He had earlier hit the ground running by telling Conservative MPs behind closed doors in the House of Commons they face an “existential moment”.
Three MPs in the room said his message to the party was they must “unite or die”, as they focus on delivering on the public’s priorities during a cost-of-living crisis.
Ms Truss promised her successor her “full support” as she congratulated him on his victory.
Congratulations @RishiSunak on being appointed as Leader of the Conservative Party and our next Prime Minister.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) October 24, 2022
You have my full support.
Former Prime Minister Mr Johnson withdrew from the race on Sunday night, while Commons Leader Ms Mordaunt dropped out of the race just a few minutes before the nominations for the leadership were due to be announced by the 1922 committee at 2pm on Monday.
Her concession, as she failed to get the 100 nominations from Tory MPs required, left Mr Sunak as the only candidate announced by committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.
In a statement posted online two minutes before the deadline, Ms Mordaunt said Mr Sunak now had her "full support".
"These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty today," she said.
"They have taken this decision in good faith for the good of the country.
"Members should know that this proposition has been fairly and thoroughly tested by the agreed 1922 process. As a result, we have now chosen our next prime minister."
Home Secretary Grant Shapps stressed Mr Sunak’s premiership would be based significantly around the 2019 election manifesto, bearing down on inflation, pushing for economic growth and then cutting taxes, while seeking to particularly support the most vulnerable people in Britain.
— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) October 24, 2022
But one of his most immediate challenges will be seeking to end the civil war which has raged within the Tory party.
“He wants to have a Government of all of the talents,” Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“One of the problems with the way that Liz Truss went about this initially was to narrow down purely to her own supporters, or largely to her own supporters.”
As it became clearer Mr Sunak was going to win the race to be Tory leader, and PM, the Pound rose, the cost of Government borrowing fell, and money markets were pricing Bank of England interest rates of around five per cent next year, compared to more than six per cent a few weeks ago.
The optimism appeared short-lived, though, as both the pound and the FTSE 100 later pared back some of their earlier gains.
Mr Sunak will be aiming to reassure the markets by demanding “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level of the Government” as he seeks to plug a blackhole in the public finances of up to £40 billion.
With Britain heading into a deeper cost-of-living crisis as winter approaches, senior Tory MPs issued a call for party unity.
Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis tweeted: “We have an opportunity to reunite and rebuild - we must take it. We have a duty to deliver for the British people at a time of economic hardship for so many. That is what we have always done as a Party, and what we must do again.”
However, the bitter splits gnawing away at the Tory Party were still clearly visible.
Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries claimed it would “now be impossible to avoid a GE”, while veteran MP Sir Christopher Chope said the Tory party is “ungovernable” and argued that a General Election is “the only answer”.
Opposition parties renewed their calls for a general election in the wake of Mr sunak’s victory, as the Tories move on to their third prime minister since the last public vote in 2019.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “Rishi Sunak has no mandate and no idea what working people need.
“We need a general election so the public get a say on the future of Britain – and the chance for a fresh start with Labour.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford made the same demand and said his party would back Labour in a vote of no confidence if they tabled one.
But other Tory MPs dismissed the call for an election, stressing it would bring more instability, and one looks highly unlikely with the Conservatives trailing Labour by more than 20 points, according to numerous polls.
On the day that he emerged as Britain’s next Prime Minister, Mr Sunak left his west London home, smartly-dressed in a suit and navy tie, shortly after 8am.
By mid-morning he had seen a surge in support from “switchers” from Mr Johnson’s campaign, with more than half the 357 Tory MPs backing him.
They included Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Levelling-up Secretary Simon Clarke, Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi, former Home Secretary Priti Patel, former Culture Secretary Sir John Whittingdale and another close ally of Mr Johnson, Sir James Duddridge.
He later joined Tory MPs to celebrate his victory at Conservative Party headquarters.
Earlier, after Mr Johnson withdrew from the Tory contest, both Mr Sunak and Ms Mordaunt praised him as they were stepping up their efforts to woo his backers and unite the party.
Mr Sunak tweeted: “Although he has decided not to run for PM again, I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad.”
Mr Mordaunt said Mr Johnson had put “country before party” by deciding to pull out of the race.
Mr Johnson had returned home from a Caribbean holiday as he plotted a return to No 10 less than two months after being ousted following a series of scandals, but later ruled out standing.
Lagging behind Mr Sunak in declared backers, he said that “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament”.
His decision to pull came in an extraordinary ten days in British politics which started with the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, saw Ms Truss quit, and Mr Kwarteng’s successor Jeremy Hunt tearing up his September 23 mini budget.
