BREAKING: HISTORY IS MADE! RISHI SUNAK BECOMES BRITAIN’S FIRST PM OF INDIAN HERITAGE
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 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.
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.
