The result is to be announced on September 5; The finalists compete for the postal votes of the 200,000strong Conservative Party
Tolga Akmen, ISABEL INFANTES, Daniel LEAL / AFP
Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Minister Liz Truss are in the final stages of the prime ministerial race. Boris Johnson In the United Kingdom. The finalists compete for the postal vote of the 200,000strong Conservative Party. The name of the new party leader, who will become UK Prime Minister, is expected on September 5th. Although Sunak, a Brit with Indian grandparents, was not eliminated as a favourite, he has quickly built his support and could become the first prime minister of Asian descent. He won 137 votes from Conservative lawmakers ahead of Truss, who received 113 votes, and could become the country’s third prime minister. The two entered the fray after Johnson resigned on July 7 over a series of scandals that rocked his government and saw him from hero to discredited.
Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak │Daniel LEAL / AFP / POOL
Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, 42, the first Hindu to hold the post, was one of two highprofile ministers to resign on Tuesday, sparking the political crisis. He was once seen as a huge favorite to succeed Johnson but lost legitimacy after a series of scandals. The cases centered around the advantageous tax status of his Indian billionaire wife, which allowed him to avoid millions of dollars in British taxes, and the US residency permit Sunak held until last year.
A former Goldman Sachs analyst and hedge fund employee, married to the daughter of an Indian tycoon, Sunak, whose grandparents emigrated to Britain from northern India in the 1960s, amassed considerable personal wealth before becoming an MP in 2015. The 42yearold Brexiteer was appointed finance secretary in 2020, a key post amid the pandemic, but has been criticized for doing too little to address the crushing costofliving crisis.
Secretary of State Liz Truss │JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
Outspoken and very critical of the “awakened” protest movements, Secretary of State Liz Truss became very popular in the ranks of the Conservative Party. This 46yearold woman, who spent a decade working in the energy and telecoms sectors, was appointed head of diplomacy as a reward for her work as Secretary of State for International Trade during Britain’s exit from the European Union. In this position, the big profree trader, who had voted to stay in the EU before the change of sides, managed to secure a number of important postBrexit trade deals.