Conservative MP Rishi Sunak on Wednesday moved closer to become the first British Prime Minister of Indian origin after Penny Mordaunt was knocked out in the final round of MPs’ voting. Sunak, who’s currently serving as the UK’s finance secretary (minister in Indian context), will now face cabinet colleague, Liz Truss, as Conservative members exercise their votes.
In the final round of voting by Conservative MPs, Sunak polled a whopping 137 votes, 17 more than the required 120. Truss, who’s been behind Mordaunt up until now, bagged 113 votes, while Penny Mordaunt received just 103 votes. In the previous round, Sunak was top, Mordaunt came second while Truss had come third.
There are 160,000 Try party members across the UK. Going by the current poll, Truss is favourite to win the members’ votes.
Speaking after the latest round of voting, Truss avoided elaborating on her campaign. Instead, she reiterated her commitment to helping people struggling with the high cost of living.
“I want to help struggling families, I want to make sure we unleash all the potential talent across Britain – and that has been the focus of my campaign,” Truss, who holds the Foreign Secretary post in the government, was quoted by the BBC as saying.
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Sunak said that she was humbled to make it to the final two, but urged his supporters to elected him as the new PM since he was capable of defeating the Labour Party in the next general elections, scheduled for 2024.
The need for a new prime minister arose after Boris Johnson was forced to resign earlier this month after as many as 59 cabinet ministers and other post holders within his government resigned demanding his ouster.