On Wednesday, Sunak had bagged the maximum number of votes in the first round of voting to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister of the country.
New Delhi: Cementing a lead over rival candidates in the race of United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister, former finance minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday topped in the second round. Sunak has been the front runner for prime ministerial race after Boris Jonhson’s resignation as party leader. Though Sunak was blamed by some for role in Johnson’s downfall but he is being considered as frontrunner among Conservative lawmakers.
Also Read: Rishi Sunak wins first round to replace PM Boris Johnson
On Wednesday, Sunak had bagged the maximum number of votes in the first round of voting to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister of the country.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer had won 88 votes in the first ballot of Conservative MPs on Wednesday. Rishi Sunak was much ahead of Penny Mordaunt who bagged 67 votes while Liz Truss was third with 50 votes.
According to agency reports, two candidates were knocked out of the race leaving six lawmakers battling to lead both the Conservative Party and the country. The two candidates are former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi. The duo could not manage to reach the milestone of 30 votes by Conservative lawmakers needed to stay in the battle.
A former Chancellor of the exchequer, Sunak resigned from his post on July 5 which led many others to put in their papers. It is believed that Rishi Sunak will be a contender for the post of the Prime Minister and if that happens, he will be the first Indian origin person to become the British Prime Minister.
Also Read: Who is Rishi Sunak — the Indian-origin man who is in race for next UK Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak had previously served as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2020. Sunak is a member of the Conservative Party and has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.
Rishi Sunak had served in Theresa May’s second government as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government. He had voted thrice in favour of May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement. After May resigned, Sunak was a supporter of Boris Johnson’s campaign. After Johnson was elected and appointed as the Prime Minister, he appointed Rishi Sunak as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He replaced Sajid Javid as the Chancellor of the Exchequer after his resignation in February 2020.