Rishi Sunak met with King Charles III on Tuesday and was proclaimed the new UK prime minister, right after the monarch accepted the resignation of Liz Truss.
The King has formally requested that Tory leader Sunak form a government.
Truss announced her resignation last week after spending just 44 days in office, becoming the country’s shortest-serving PM. She stepped down after coming under pressure for proposing unpopular economic measures aimed at mitigating soaring inflation and the cost-of-living crisis. Sunak, a former finance minister, was then selected by the ruling Conservative Party to replace her.
“In just a short period, this government has acted urgently and decisively on the side of hardworking families and businesses,” Truss said in her farewell speech.
“From my time as prime minister, I am more convinced than ever we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face.”
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In his first speech as PM, Sunak recognized that the previous government had made “some mistakes” in its efforts to fight the economic crisis.
“[Mistakes] not born of ill will or bad intentions – quite the opposite in fact – but mistakes nonetheless. And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister, in part, to fix them,” he said.
“I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda,” Sunak stated.
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