Rishi Sunak to become UK new Prime Minister

British former finance minister Rishi Sunak will be the new United Kingdom Prime Minister.

He has been declared as the next leader of the Conservative Party by the head of the 1922 Committee of Conservative legislators after his only opponent, Mordaunt, pulled out of the race for leader of the majority Conservative Party.

This placed him on course to be the country’s next prime minister.

His win comes days after the dramatic resignation of Liz Truss as prime minister following her disastrous tax cuts plans and policy U-turns plunged the markets into chaos.

Aged 42, Sunak will be the youngest PM for more than 200 years. He will also be the first UK Prime Minister as a person of color. Sunak’s father was born in Kenya.

Sunak announced his running bid to head the Conservative party and replace former PM Boris Johnson

His rival, Mordaunt in withdrawing from the race, says Sunak has her "full support" as she withdraws from the race.

Mordaunt had been scrambling to get enough support from MPs to make the final ballot in the leadership race, while Sunak passed the threshold comfortably.

Ms. Mordaunt bowed out of the race at the eleventh hour after failing to get the 100 nominations from Tory MPs required by the 2pm deadline.

The Commons leader only had 25 public backers as of Monday morning, though a source from her campaign team claimed she had up to 90 nominations and would not be pulling out of the race.

“This decision is a historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support,” Mordaunt tweeted.

Mr. Sunak's comeback represents a number of symbolic milestones as he will be the UK's first Hindu prime minister, the first of Asian heritage, and the youngest for more than 200 years at the age of 42.

Despite his success, Sunak also faces challenges within the governing Conservative Party, where some lawmakers blame him for his role in ousting Johnson and are concerned he has not got what it takes to win elections.

The opposition Labour Party is likely to paint him as a member of the uber-rich elite, out of touch with the pressures faced by millions as Britain slides towards a recession, due to the surging cost of food and energy.