Portrait of the week: Sunak in No. 10, pasta gets pricier and Russia hits Ukraine’s energy grid

Home

Rishi Sunak, aged 42, became Prime Minister. At the weekend Boris Johnson had flown back from a holiday in the Dominican Republic in response to the resignation of Liz Truss. She said she could not ‘deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party’. The 1922 Committee devised a hurdle of 100 nominations for any MP to be considered as leader, with secret ballots of MPs and, if two candidates remained, an online vote by party members. It was thought that if Mr Johnson secured 100 votes, the membership would elect him. At 9 p.m. on Sunday, the day before nominations closed, he withdrew from the contest. Next day, a minute before nominations closed, Penny Mordaunt withdrew. So Mr Sunak won. Political commentators noted that Mr Sunak was a Hindu of Indian heritage. In a short, stilted speech on becoming party leader, he said: ‘I pledge that I will serve you with integrity and humility and I will work day in, day out to deliver for the British people.’