UK's Sunak becomes latest British PM

Former UK finance minister Rishi Sunak became Britain's third prime minister in seven weeks after winning the Conservative Party's leadership contest in the first round.

Multi-millionaire Sunak easily passed the threshold of 100 backers from party lawmakers. His only challenger, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew from the race after failing to garner the requisite support ahead of a 1400 BST deadline.

The party's new leader was expected to address parliamentary colleagues behind closed doors this afternoon. He has not uttered a word to the media or been interviewed since throwing his hat into the ring to succeed the humiliated Liz Truss, whose premiership lasted a mere 45 days.

Sunak came second in the leadership contest against Truss in the summer in a poll of Tory members.

He will now lead a febrile, fractious and divided party, many of whom despise him for sparking the defections that led to the downfall of the disgraced Boris Johnson in the summer after two years of scandal and perceived mismanagement.

On top of that is an economy in freefall with mortgages, energy bills and inflation soaring, exacerbated by Truss's disastrous mini-budget that caused massive turmoil in bond markets, forcing the Bank of England to spend billions buying up government debt.

Sunak is expected to formally take over as prime minister from Truss, on Tuesday, after meeting the king at Buckingham palace.

The weekend was dominated by a theatrical campaign by Johnson to make a comeback. His backers claimed he had 102 MP votes, but only 60 ever showed their hand and by Sunday his bid evaporated, even though he never publicly declared his candidacy.

By Monday, many of those who supported Johnson, including foreign minister James Cleverly and fellow cabinet member Nadhim Zahawi were quickly backpedalling and throwing their support behind the new leader ahead of the announcement of yet another new government.

The opposition Labour Party called for a general election, claiming that Sunak had no mandate.

Deputy party leader Angela Rayner said: "The Tories have crowned Rishi Sunak as prime minister without him saying a single word about how he would run the country and without anyone having the chance to vote.

"Rishi Sunak has no mandate and no idea what working people need. We need a general election so the public get a say on the future of Britain - and the chance for a fresh start with Labour."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com