Indian-origin Rishi Sunak on Monday was elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party and subsequently the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, following Penny Mordaunt’s withdrawal from the race.
The 42-year-old former chancellor was comfortably in the lead, having secured the public backing of over half the 357 Tory MPs – way above the 100 minimum required to make the shortlist.
Rishi Sunak was, until recently, widely regarded as the party’s brightest rising star, the best-known of potential leadership contenders — and the bookies’ favorite to succeed Johnson. He is married to British-Indian fashion designer Akshata Murthy, daughter of founder of the Indian multi-national IT company Infosys.
Sunak, 42, was thrust into the spotlight when he became treasury chief in 2020, tasked with the unenviable job of steering the economy through its worst economic slump on record because of the pandemic.