Rishi Sunak
Indian born British politician, Rishi Sunak has emerged as the UK prime minister after rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure the necessary 100 nominations from her fellow Members of Parliaments (MPs).
Mr Sunak won the support of an overwhelming majority of Tory MPs, enabling him to claim the keys to No10.
Sunak will become Britain’s first PM of Indian heritage.
Ms Mordaunt dropped out of the contest at the last minute this afternoon after she failed to secure the support of 100 colleagues.
Mordaunt, in a statement, said, “Our Party is our membership. Whether we are elected representatives, activists, fundraisers or supporters. We all have a stake in who our leader is.
“These are unprecedented times. Despite the compressed timetable for the leadership contest it is clear that colleagues feel we need certainty today. They have taken this decision in good faith for the good of the country.
“Members should know that this proposition has been fairly and thoroughly tested by the agreed 1922 process.
“As a result, we have now chosen our next Prime Minister. This decision is an historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support.
“I am proud of the campaign we ran and grateful to all those, across all sides of our party, who gave me their backing. We all owe it to the country, to each other and to Rishi to unite and work together for the good of the nation. There is much work to be done.”
The ex-Chancellor took an early lead in the Tory leadership race, having lost the last one to Liz Truss just weeks ago.
Within hours of Ms Truss announcing her resignation last Thursday, MPs came out in droves to support Mr Sunak.
But his chances of moving to Downing Street were dramatically slashed when Boris Johnson informally launched a spectacular comeback bid.
The ex-PM left his glamorous holiday in the Dominican Republic to fly back to London and shore up support.
Tory heavyweights split between two camps, with James Cleverly and Priti Patel going team Boris, and Grant Shapps and Kemi Badenoch waving the flag for Rishi.
Over the weekend Ms Mordaunt trailed behind the pair, with only around two dozen MPs backing her campaign.
On Sunday Mr Johnson made a late night exit from the race.
The former Prime Minster insisted he had the numbers to go to a vote of the Conservative membership.
But he threw in the towel as MPs broke for Mr Sunak at a rate of more than two to one.
However, according to an announcement made by Sir Graham Brady, only one nomination was received by the 1922 Committee for the new leader of the party, and backed by 100 MPs.
Sir Brady, therefore, declared Sunak to be the next party leader, and consequently the new Prime Minister.
He confirmed that the new Tory leader Rishi Sunak will address MPs at 14:30 BST.
By Vincent Kubi