Sunak wins Conservative leadership contest as rival Mordaunt pulls out

Rishi Sunak has won the contest to become the next Tory leader – and therefore the Prime Minister – after his rival Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the race.

Following Liz Truss’ resignation last week, after having served just 44 days as Prime Minister, the Conservative Party revealed that it would elect a new leader within a week. Candidates were required to secure the backing of 100 Tory MPs, after which they were due to face the second ballot of Tory members this year.

Mordaunt was unsuccessful in securing the endorsements of enough MPs by the 2pm deadline, however, making the former Chancellor the de facto winner. Mordaunt received public support from 26 MPs. Sunak got the backing of 193.

In a statement released at 1.58pm, Mordaunt said she is “proud” of her campaign but that Sunak has her “full support”. She added: “We all owe it to the country, to each other and to Rishi to unite and work together for the good of the nation.”

Sunak’s victory came after the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign following numerous scandals that culminated in a record-breaking 57 ministerial resignations, dropped out of the contest late on Sunday evening.

After having been touted as a potential replacement for Truss, and travelling home from the Caribbean where he had been on holiday, the disgraced former Prime Minister claimed that he had “cleared the very high hurdle” for the nominations threshold but that “this is simply not the right time” for him to return.

Truss came to power after beating Sunak in the first Conservative leadership contest of 2022. She came under widespread criticism after her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled the ‘mini-Budget’ – after which the pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar and interest rates rose sharply.

Kwarteng was sacked after serving for just 38 days as Chancellor following several U-turns, making him the second shortest serving Chancellor in British history. His successor, Jeremy Hunt, subsequently confirmed that the government would be abandoning “almost all” tax measures announced in the fiscal statement.

Suella Braverman was forced to resign as Home Secretary and the Prime Minister suffered a humiliating rebellion over the government’s position on fracking last week, during which Tory MPs complained of being manhandled by the whips.

While announcing her resignation on Thursday, the outgoing Prime Minister said she would remain in office until a successor is chosen. She will be the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history. George Canning, the next shortest serving Prime Minister, died after contracting tuberculosis after 118 days in office in 1827.