Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warns of ‘difficult’ decisions ahead
Rishi Sunak was installed Tuesday as Britain's third prime minister this year, taking over from Liz Truss, who left office after 49 days, and who wished the new leader “every success”.
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Speaking on the steps of Downing Street after being appointed premier by King Charles III, Sunak vowed to fix the errors made by Truss, who resigned last week, and he warned of "difficult" decisions ahead.
"Right now our country is facing a profound economic crisis, the aftermath of Covid still lingers, Putin's war in Ukraine has destabilised energy markets and supply chains the world over," he said.
He said however he wanted to "pay tribute" to Truss whose tenure as leader lasted just seven weeks after a budget that deeply cut taxes sparked economic and political turmoil.
In her departing speech on Tuesday, seven weeks to the day after she arrived as prime minister, Truss did not apologise for her short tenure and said she knew Britain was set for brighter days.
"She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country,” Sunak said. “It is a noble aim and I admired her restlessness to create change but some mistakes were made, not born of ill will or bad intentions, but mistakes nonetheless," he said.
"And I have been elected as leader of my party - your prime minister - in part to fix them, and that work begins immediately," he added.
Britain's first Prime Minister of colour
The child of immigrants from India and East Africa, Sunak is Britain’s first Asian Prime Minister, and at 42-years-old is the youngest in more than two centuries.
A former hedge fund boss, he served as the Chancellor of the Echequer, and became the ruling Conservatives' new leader on Monday after his rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure enough nominations from Tory MPs and former prime minister Boris Johnson dropped an attempt to return.
Sunak takes the reins of a deeply divided country facing massive inflation and a growing economic crisis, and is at the head of a warring political party.
He must find deep spending cuts to fill an estimated 40 billion pound hole in the public finances due to surging borrowing costs and a costly six-month programme of support for rising energy bills.
He will need to review all spending, including on politically sensitive areas such as health, education, defence, welfare and pensions.
And he will likely face calls for a new election if he moves too far from the policy manifesto that elected the Conservative Party in 2019, when then leader Boris Johnson pledged to invest heavily in the country.
Picking a new cabinet
His first task will be to select a cabinet before facing his first session of "Prime Minister's Questions" in parliament on Wednesday.
Some Conservative lawmakers hope the cabinet will include politicians from all wings of the party.
Sunak is expected to retain Jeremy Hunt who was appointed finance minister by Truss 11 days ago, as he helped calm volatile bond markets by ripping up most of Truss's economic programme.
Hunt endorsed Sunak on Sunday, writing in the Telegraph that he was a leader "willing to make the choices necessary for our long-term prosperity".
He has warned "difficult decisions" loom over public spending.
Whoever heads the Treasury is set to unveil the government's much-anticipated fiscal plans on 31 October.
(with wires)
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