Rishi Sunak will be Britain’s next prime minister, the first person of color in the job, after dark-horse challenger Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the Conservative Party’s leadership contest. Sunak, 42, will be Britain’s third leader in less than two months. Sunak, the former finance minister who led the revolt against Boris Johnson and was runner-up to Liz Truss in September, will succeed them both, with the challenges of improving Britain’s economic trajectory and public trust in the Conservative Party.

Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader, did not secure enough backing to mount a successful challenge. “It is clear that colleagues feel we needed certainty today,” Mordaunt said in a message posted to Twitter announcing her withdrawal, moments before Sunak was announced by lawmakers. “This decision is a historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party. Rishi has my full support.”

Here’s what to know:

• The ascent of Sunak, whose parents are of Indian origin, was cheered in India and among the South Asian diaspora in Britain.


• Sunak, born in England, has talked about how his family gave him “opportunities they could only dream of” and how Britain “gave them and millions like them a chance of a better future.”


• Prime Minister Liz Truss will step down after her replacement is determined, officially becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, after she was unable to overcome the country’s poor economic headwinds, made worse by her own missteps and deep divisions within her party. Her successor will face the same daunting landscape: spiraling inflation, government finances in dire straits, and an increasingly distrustful public.