Britain’s incoming prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has been named the new leader of the Conservative Party after a truncated leadership contest following Liz Truss’s resignation. The former chancellor won the race on Monday when rival Penny Mordaunt failed to win the backing of enough lawmakers and after former prime minister Boris Johnson ditched his own comeback attempt, informed MIA.
While exact timings might change, here is a look at how the handover of power will unfold. – Tuesday, October 25 Truss, who stepped down last week after only six weeks in office, is set to hold a farewell meeting with her Cabinet at 9 am (0800 GMT), Downing Street said.
She will then step out and make a statement outside the famous black door of No 10 at around 10.15 am. Truss will then take a short car ride from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the King, in which she will formally tender her resignation.
Once she has left, it is Sunak’s turn to see the King at the palace. He will be appointed as the country’s next prime minister and asked to form an administration. Sunak will then head back to Downing Street to address the nation for the first time as prime minister at around 11.35 am.
It is customary for the new prime minister to be greeted by the Cabinet Secretary at the door of No 10 and get clapped in by staff before heading into the Cabinet Room to receive security and intelligence briefings from civil servants. Sunak will be handed the nuclear codes and write “letters of last resort” to commanders of submarines carrying Trident nuclear missiles with orders on what to do if the Government has been wiped out in a nuclear attack.
He is likely to use the rest of the day to start putting together his new Cabinet as he seeks to fix a fractured party. Veteran Westminster watchers have started to speculate about who will take the top spots in his Cabinet, with Jeremy Hunt potentially staying on as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the name of stability, Dominic Raab expected to make a return to Cabinet, and Mordaunt tipped for a promotion.
