Rishi Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister of the year on Tuesday and must now focus on tackling an economic crisis that has left the country’s finances in a precarious position and left millions of Britons struggling to pay their food and energy bills.
Sunak, the United Kingdom’s first black leader, met at Buckingham Palace with King Charles III, who had just accepted the resignation of Liz Truss.
Sunak, at 42 the youngest British leader in more than 200 years, is expected to begin forming a Cabinet immediately and face an economy sliding into recession. This year’s third Conservative prime minister will also seek to unite a ruling party divided after Truss’ short and disastrous term weakened Britain’s already difficult economic outlook.
In a speech at the Prime Minister’s Residence, Sunak acknowledged his predecessor’s mistakes and pledged to put “economic stability and confidence” at the heart of his agenda.
Sunak, the first non-white Briton to take on the role, was elected on Monday leader of the Conservative Party, which governs the country and is trying to stabilize both the economy and its declining popularity after the short and disastrous term of Liz Truss .
Truss will resign after a brief public statement outside the Prime Minister’s official residence, seven weeks after being appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II.
The queen died two days later. Now her son will carry out the ceremonial task of accepting Truss’ resignation at Buckingham Palace before asking Sunak to form a government.
Sunak, who at 42 will be Britain’s youngest leader in more than 200 years, must try to shore up an economy headed for recession and hit by his predecessor’s economic experiment. At the same time, he will try to unite a divided and demoralized party that is lagging behind in opinion polls.
His big priorities will be appointing government ministers and preparing a budget statement outlining plans to plug a multibillion-pound budget hole caused by rising inflation and a weakening economy.
The crisis was exacerbated by Truss’ destabilizing economic experiments.
In his first public statement after becoming leader of the Conservative Party, Sunak said the country was facing “a profound economic challenge” and pledged to work for “stability and unity.” He emphasized that his “top priority” was to unite the party and the country.
