Rishi Sunak declared next leader of UK Conservative Party, to become next British PM

Elected for the first time to parliament in 2015, Mr Rishi Sunak, 42, became Britain's youngest prime minister in more than 200 years on Monday (Oct 24), tasked with steering the country through an economic crisis and mounting anger among some voters.

He was declared the next leader of Britain's Conservative Party by the head of the 1922 Committee of Conservative lawmakers, after prime minister hopefuls Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson bowed out of the race on the same day.

It is a remarkable return for Mr Sunak who lost a leadership bid to Ms Liz Truss less than two months ago when he was accused by some in the Conservative Party of bringing down their hero, Mr Johnson.

One of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, he enters Downing Street facing a need to make deep public spending cuts to stem a fiscal crisis, as well as tackling a cost-of-living crunch, a winter of strikes and Russia's war in Ukraine.

His backers say the former finance minister is a safe pair of hands who can restore Britain's credibility with investors who sold the country's bonds and sterling after Ms Truss's mini-budget offered tax cuts with little on how to fund them.