UK latest updates: Rishi Sunak to take over as premier on Tuesday

Many Indians are delighted at the prospect of Sunak becoming the first person of Indian origin to become British prime minister, just as Hindus across the world celebrate Diwali.

Some Indians said on social media that Sunak becoming prime minister this year would be even more special because India recently celebrated 75 years of its independence from British colonial rule.

Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, is a practising Hindu and is known to celebrate the festival of lights. He has also been photographed lighting candles outside No 11 Downing Street to mark the occasion.

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British finance minister Jeremy Hunt says it is time for honesty about the economic challenges facing the country as he congratulated Sunak on becoming the next prime minister.

“This is a time for honesty about the huge economic challenges we face, and courage in addressing them,” Hunt wrote on Twitter.

“We have a PM who can be trusted to do just that – and give us all confidence in the huge potential of our country.”

Sunak will be appointed Britain’s third prime minister this year on Tuesday after outgoing leader Truss submits her resignation to King Charles III, Downing Street has said.

Truss will hold a final cabinet meeting before delivering a statement outside Number 10 around 10:15am (09:15 GMT). Sunak will then be appointed by the king and make his own televised remarks around 11:35 am (10:35 GMT).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Sunak on his victory in the Conservative Party leadership race, saying he is keen on working “closely together”.

“Warmest congratulations @RishiSunak! As you become UK PM, I look forward to working closely together on global issues, and implementing Roadmap 2030,” Modi wrote on Twitter.

“Special Diwali wishes to the ‘living bridge’ of UK Indians, as we transform our historic ties into a modern partnership.”

The handover of power from Truss to Sunak will not take place on Monday, the Reuters news agency has quoted a spokesman for the current prime minister as saying.

“I can confirm that the transition won’t be taking place today,” the spokesman said.

He added that discussions between the outgoing and incoming prime ministers and King Charles III on the timing and choreography of the changeover were being held.

In his first public remarks since winning the Conservative Party leadership race, Sunak has promised to serve as prime minister “with integrity and humility” while warning the country faces “a profound economic challenge”.

“I will work day in, day out to deliver for the British people,” he said in a brief statement delivered to fellow Tory MPs at the Conservative Party’s headquarters in London.

“We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together,” he added.

Sunak also paid tribute to outgoing British leader Liz Truss for her “dignified” leadership “under difficult circumstances abroad and at home”.

Sunak’s impending status as the UK’s first prime minister from an ethnic minority is “a massive moment” symbolically, says Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank.

“[But] his reputation will hinge on how well he delivers as PM at what is perhaps a uniquely difficult time in our history,” Menon told Al Jazeera.

“At a minimum, the South Asian community will take note because one of their own is in Downing Street, though ultimately they will judge him on his policies and there is no guarantee that his policies will be to all of their likings,” he said.

“He’s different because he’s not white, … [but] socio-economically, he is absolutely part of the UK elite.”

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from London, says Sunak’s central message to Conservative MPs during a private parliamentary address following his leadership contest victory was that they needed to unite or risk electoral extinction.

“It could, therefore, be seen quite clearly that he intends to be quite generous in the way that he looks at the party as a whole, and one would assume that he is going to go for a mix of factions within his cabinet,” Simmons said.

Scotland’s first minister has congratulated Sunak on his victory in the Conservative Party leadership race, saying she will do her best “to build a constructive working relationship with him in the interests of those we serve”, but she also reiterated calls for Scottish independence.

“That he becomes the first British Asian to become PM is a genuinely significant moment,” Nicola Sturgeon tweeted.

“As for the politics, I’d suggest one immediate decision he should take and one he certainly should not. He should call an early General Election. And he should not – must not – unleash another round of austerity. Our public services will not withstand that,” she said.

“For Scotland, of course, he becomes another PM we did not and, without doubt would not vote for even if given the chance. To escape the damage of Westminster governments with no mandate here, and take our future into our own hands, Scotland needs independence.”

Although Sunak has been named the new leader of the Conservative Party, he does not automatically become the UK’s prime minister.

For that to happen, Prime Minister Liz Truss will first have to visit King Charles III to formally stand down.

Charles will then meet with Sunak and ask him to form a new government.

No timetable has been announced yet for the formalities although it is widely expected that they will take place either later on Monday or on Tuesday.

Outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss says Rishi Sunak has her full support.

“Congratulations @RishiSunak on being appointed as Leader of the Conservative Party and our next Prime Minister,” Truss said on Twitter. “You have my full support.”

Truss, who replaced Boris Johnson, lasted 44 days in the job.

The leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats party has criticised Sunak as “out-of-touch” and called for an immediate general election.

“The Conservatives have trashed our economy, pushed health services to the brink, and added hundreds of pounds to people’s mortgage payments,” MP Ed Davey tweeted.

“Now Conservative MPs have installed another out-of-touch Prime Minister without giving you a say. We need [a] General Election NOW.”

Opposition Labour Party MP Angela Rayner has questioned Sunak’s appointment as the Conservative Party’s new leader, saying he has “no mandate, no answers and no ideas”, and called for the public to have their say at a general election.

“The Tories have crowned Rishi Sunak without him saying a word about what he would do as PM,” Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, tweeted.

“He has no mandate, no answers and no ideas. Nobody voted for this. The public deserve their say on Britain’s future through a General Election. It’s time for a fresh start with Labour.”

The chairman of the Conservative Party has called on its members to unite behind Sunak as its new leader.

“Now is the time for the whole party to come together and unite four-square behind Rishi, as he gets on with the vital work of tackling the challenges we face as a country,” Jake Berry said in a statement.

“The time for internal debates is well and truly over, and led by Rishi Sunak, I know we can and will deliver on the priorities of the British people.”

Rishi Sunak’s victory is seen by some as a victory for diversity and representation in British politics, which is overwhelmingly dominated by older white men.

He will be the UK’s first person of colour, first of Asian heritage and first Hindu to lead the country.

He was born in Southampton, an English port city, to Indian parents who had immigrated in the 1960s.

He will also be the youngest for more than 200 years at the age of 42.

David Cameron, Conservative Party prime minister from 2010 to 2016, has congratulated Sunak on his imminent elevation to the country’s highest political office.

“Huge congratulations Rishi Sunak on becoming PM to lead us through challenging times,” Cameron tweeted.

Sunak has been declared the new leader of the Conservative Party by the head of the 1922 Committee of Conservative legislators, placing him on course to be the UK’s next prime minister.

Graham Brady, the 1922 committee’s chairman, said Sunak would address Conservative MPs at 2:30pm (13:30 GMT) following his leadership race win.

The 1922 committee sets the rules for selecting and changing the party’s leader.

Mordaunt has announced she is dropping out of the race to replace Liz Truss, paving the way for Rishi Sunak to become the UK’s next prime minister.

“We all owe it to the country, to each other and to Rishi to unite and work together for the good of the nation,” she tweeted. “There is much work to be done.”

Mordaunt did not specifically say whether she had failed to secure the required 100 nominations from Conservative MPs to run in a leadership election.

Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party who backed Truss during her leadership contest against Sunak over the summer, has said he is now backing the ex-chancellor.

“It is time for us to end the leadership contest and get a PM in place ASAP. I have reached the decision that senior experience at the heart of government matters most. To that end I shall support Rishi Sunak,” he tweeted.

The leadership race being contested by Sunak and Mordaunt began when Prime Minister Liz Truss announced last week that she was resigning just a month and a half after taking office.

Her tenure was defined by major political and economic turmoil following a controversial mini-budget in late September that spooked markets and triggered a crisis of confidence in the government.

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