LONDON: Rishi Sunak became Britain\u2019s third prime minister of the year on Tuesday and now must turn his attention to taming an economic crisis that has left the country\u2019s finances in a precarious state and millions of Britons struggling to afford food and energy bills.
\nSunak, the UK\u2019s first leader of color, met at Buckingham Palace with King Charles III, who had just accepted the resignation of Liz Truss. In Britain\u2019s constitutional monarchy, the monarch plays a ceremonial role in appointing government leaders.
\nSunak \u2014 at 42 the youngest British leader in more than 200 years \u2014 is expected to immediately begin appointing a Cabinet and getting to grips with an economy sliding toward recession. The third Conservative prime minister this year, he will also try to unite a governing party that is riven with divisions.
\nSunak was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging popularity, after the brief, disastrous term of Liz Truss.
\nTruss departed after making a public statement outside 10 Downing St., seven weeks to the day after she was appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II, who died two days later.
\nTruss offered a defense of her low-tax economic vision and her brief term in office before being driven from the prime minister\u2019s official residence for the last time.
\n\u201cI am more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the problems we face,\u201d she said. She stood by the free-market principles of \u201clower taxes\u201d and \u201cdelivering growth,\u201d despite the market mayhem triggered by her Sept. 23 budget package.
\nTruss wished Sunak success as Britain continues \u201cto battle through a storm.\u201d
\nSunak\u2019s top priorities will be appointing Cabinet ministers, and preparing for a budget statement that will set out how the government plans to come up with billions of pounds (dollars) to fill a fiscal hole created by soaring inflation and a sluggish economy, and exacerbated by Truss\u2019 destabilizing economic experiments.
\nThe statement, set to feature tax increases and spending cuts, is currently due to be made in Parliament on Monday by Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt \u2014 if Sunak keeps him in the job.
\nSunak, who was Treasury chief himself for two years until July, said Monday that Britain faces \u201ca profound economic challenge.\u201d
\nSunak becomes prime minister in a remarkable reversal of fortune just weeks after he lost to Truss in a Conservative election to replace former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Party members in the summer chose her tax-cutting boosterism over his warnings that inflation must be tamed.
\nTruss conceded last week that she could not deliver on her plans \u2014 but only after her attempts triggered market chaos and worsened inflation at a time when millions of Britons were already struggling with soaring borrowing costs and rising energy and food prices.
\nThe party is now desperate for someone to right the ship after months of chaos under Truss and Johnson, who quit in July after becoming mired in ethics scandals.
\nSunak was chosen as Conservative leader after becoming the only candidate to clear the hurdle of 100 nominations from fellow lawmakers to run in the party election. Sunak defeated rival Penny Mordaunt, who may get a job in his government, and the ousted Johnson, who dashed back from a Caribbean vacation to rally support for a comeback bid but failed to get enough backing to run.
\nAs well as stabilizing the UK economy, Sunak must try to unite a governing party that has descended into acrimony as its poll ratings have plunged.
\nConservative lawmaker Victoria Atkins, a Sunak ally, said the party would \u201csettle down\u201d under Sunak.
\n\u201cWe all understand that we\u2019ve now really got to get behind Rishi \u2014 and, in fairness, that\u2019s exactly what the party has done,\u201d she told radio station LBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON: Rishi Sunak became Britain\u2019s third prime minister of the year on Tuesday and now must turn his attention to taming an economic crisis that has left the country\u2019s finances in a precarious state and millions of Britons struggling to afford food and energy bills. Sunak, the UK\u2019s first leader of color, met at Buckingham […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7137,11237,9463],"class_list":{"0":"post-291507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-economic-crisis","9":"tag-rishi-sunak","10":"tag-uk-prime-minister"},"yoast_head":"\n