Rishi Sunak, the former UK finance minister, is set to be the next prime minister after his only rival withdrew from the Conservative Party leadership race on Monday.
Sunak was expected to win, especially after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson pulled out, leaving only him and House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt in the race.
Outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss' had stepped down on Thursday — after just six weeks in office.
Her resignation triggered the second race to pick a new prime minister this year after tumultuous months of scandals and market turmoil.
In September, Sunak was defeated by Truss in a party leadership vote in the wake of Johnson's downfall.
How did the Conservative Party pick a new leader?
The party had said it would accelerate the race to pick a new prime minister within a week.
Sunak was the only candidate with the confirmed support of more than 100 lawmakers, the number needed to run in the race. According to British media, 51% of Conservative lawmakers backed Sunak.
Meanwhile, Mordaunt did not seem to have the required 100 votes. A total of 27 Tory lawmakers publicly backed her, although she claimed to have the support of 90, The Guardian reported.
Mordaunt withdrew from the race at the last minute. She vowed her "full support" for Sunak.
"Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party," senior backbencher Graham Brady said.
Who is Rishi Sunak?
The 42-year-old politician is set to become Britain's youngest prime minister in more than a century, the country's first nonwhite leader and the first Hindu to take the job.
Winning the Conservative leadership race also gives Sunak vindication, as he had warned in the last campaign that Truss' economic plans would backfire — and they did.
But Sunak himself had set the country on course to have its biggest tax burden in decades as he served as finance minister between February 2020 and July 2022.
He had backed tax cuts but said he would only bring them forward once inflation was brought under control, DW reports.
