Rishi Sunak warned the Conservatives it was time to “unite or die” as he prepared to enter No 10 as the first person of colour to become UK prime minister.
He said he would put an end to the Conservative psychodrama and vowed to prioritise “policies not personalities”, starting with a cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday . His allies briefed he would reach across the party, in stark contrast to the divisive purges of Liz Truss or Boris Johnson.
Fewer than seven weeks after losing the summer leadership contest to Truss, Sunak on Monday won the Tory leadership contest without a vote being cast. His victory was assured shortly before 2pm when his only remaining rival, Penny Mordaunt, narrowly failed to attract the required 100 nominations from Conservative MPs.
The former chancellor, who resigned dramatically from Johnson’s government in July, will become the third Conservative prime minister in less than two months and the fifth in six years.
He will also make history as the first practising Hindu to lead the country and, at the age of 42, the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years.
Sunak takes on the role at a time of deep economic crisis and with tough decisions on taxation and public spending that are likely to threaten the fragile unity within the party – though in his brief remarks to MPs on Monday he emphasised a commitment to levelling up, to a net zero policy on the climate crisis and support to Ukraine.
He is set to become prime minister before noon on Tuesday, after Truss holds her final cabinet and then travels to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles.
Sunak has made no public pledges during the brief contest since Truss’s resignation last Thursday and has drawn criticism for a “submarine” approach to his campaign.
MPs who spoke to Sunak over the weekend said he was not prepared to make any spending commitments – including on defence, which his predecessor had promised to increase. His first speech as leader was held in private with no cameras, with only Tory MPs in attendance.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said it was clear that Sunak had “no mandate” and renewed calls for a general election. “The Tories have crowned Rishi Sunak as prime minister without him saying a single word about how he would run the country and without anyone having the chance to vote,” she said.
Mordaunt has told allies she is expecting a “big job” – potentially foreign secretary. Two minutes before the nomination process closed at 2pm, Mordaunt tweeted that she had pulled out and that Sunak had her “full support” – though her team said pledges had been received from 90 MPs.
Johnson dropped out on Sunday night, despite claiming he had the support of 102 MPs, and was blamed by Mordaunt’s backers for handing Sunak a coronation, with MPs in fear of allowing Johnson to return.
Jeremy Hunt is expected to stay on as chancellor though Sunak has not made a direct commitment. Hunt endorsed Sunak and briefed him over the weekend about plans for a fiscal event on 31 October – the first big test of his premiership.
Others in line for a return to the cabinet include Sunak’s closest ally, Oliver Dowden, the former party chairman, and the former home secretary Suella Braverman, who became an influential Sunak backer over the weekend. One well placed source said Dominic Raab could be Sunak’s home secretary. Michael Gove, who made a series of calls to wavering MPs for Sunak over the weekend, is also tipped for a return.
Anxious business leaders have cautiously welcomed Sunak amid signs the UK economy is heading for recession after a sharp fall in confidence among company bosses during Truss’s brief premiership.
The latest snapshot from the economy showed optimism among business leaders collapsed in October to the lowest level since April 2020, during the early stages of the Covid pandemic, as intense inflationary pressures, escalating political uncertainty and rising borrowing costs weighed on growth.
In a remarkably brief statement on his election, Sunak said the country would “face a profound economic challenge … We now need stability and unity. And I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”
after newsletter promotion
But the new leader was more frank in private to MPs about the “existential threat” to the Conservative party from the fallout of the last months of economic turmoil.
Ruling out an early general election, he said he would lead a government of serious Conservative values and make his first priority tackling the economic crisis. Sunak told MPs “we’ve got time before the next election” but said this was their last chance.
“This is an existential moment … our party is not fundamentally divided,” he told MPs, citing a broad consensus on Brexit, on support for Ukraine and on the need for long-term energy security.
He said the party had to “unite around a clear economic plan and a vision of a better Britain … move forward with experienced, disciplined, focused leadership [and] stable competent government.”
Sunak told MPs his ambition was to have a “highly productive UK economy”, stressing a commitment to levelling up and the pledges of the 2019 manifesto, and said the party backed low taxation but it had to be affordable and deliverable.
He said a stable and productive economy would be the engine that drives a well-funded health and education service and delivers on net zero, and said it would be an “environmentally focused government”.
MPs leaving the 1922 Committee meeting after Sunak’s address gave him a rapturous reception, with one Mordaunt backer describing it as “the best leadership speech I have ever heard”.
Another, Sir Charles Walker, the veteran MP whose angry speech went viral in the final chaotic hours of Truss’s premiership, said that last Wednesday had been “a low point for the Conservative party and today has been a high point”.
Simon Hoare, a longtime Sunak backer, said: “He said we could not pretend the last few weeks and months had been easy or edifying or helpful. We are going back to serious, pragmatic traditions of Conservative government. The message we heard was about going forward – as a party and a government this is about the future and shaping the future. We cannot rewrite history. We will play the hand we have got, but it is not an inevitable threat we face … Time is not on our side, we have no time to lose.”
Iain Duncan Smith, a prominent backer of Johnson and Truss, said it was right that a decision had been made quickly: “There is no more messing around, it is time to end the psychodrama and get on with governing.”