LONDON: Rishi Sunak resigned as UK prime minister outside No. 10 on Friday and informed the nation he would also be stepping down as Conservative party leader.
“I will step down as party leader, not immediately, but once formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place. It is important that the Conservative party rebuilds and takes up its crucial role in opposition professionally and effectively,” he said.
He defended his policies, though, saying he had viewed stabilising the economy as his most important task as PM.“Inflation is back to target, mortgage rates are falling and growth has returned. I am proud of those achievements,” he said.
Sunak won his seat, Richmond and Northallerton, comfortably with 23,059 votes, a 12,185 majority, although it was less than he got in 2019. After a party leadership contest takes place, he is expected to stay on as an Opposition MP. A spokesperson said: “He has said many times he will stay on as MP.”
Priti Patel and Suella Braverman are among those likely to enter the leadership race.
Sunak made a dignified speech, wishing Starmer and his family well. “His successes will be all our successes,” he said. “He is a decent public-spirited man who I respect. He and his family deserve the best of our understanding as they make their transition to new lives.”
He thanked the civil service, his staff and his wife and daughters for the sacrifices they have made so that he could serve his country. As he said this Murty smiled and looked like she was going to cry.
He recounted how just unremarkable it was for the UK that “two generations after his grandparents arrived with little” he could become PM and “watch his two daughters light Diwali candles on the steps of Downing Street. “We must hold true to that idea of who we are.”
Sunak said it pained him that so many colleagues would no longer sit in the House of Commons.
Sunak’s campaign had been ill-starred from the outset when he announced it in the pouring rain. His announcement of compulsory national service was rejected by young people, he was criticised for leaving D-Day events in France early, and then shortly before the election his party got engulfed in a betting scandal.
The writing was on the wall last month when Starmer was sat next to the King’s private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, at the state banquet held in honour of the visiting Emperor and Empress of Japan, and Sunak was not.
“I will step down as party leader, not immediately, but once formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place. It is important that the Conservative party rebuilds and takes up its crucial role in opposition professionally and effectively,” he said.
He defended his policies, though, saying he had viewed stabilising the economy as his most important task as PM.“Inflation is back to target, mortgage rates are falling and growth has returned. I am proud of those achievements,” he said.
Sunak won his seat, Richmond and Northallerton, comfortably with 23,059 votes, a 12,185 majority, although it was less than he got in 2019. After a party leadership contest takes place, he is expected to stay on as an Opposition MP. A spokesperson said: “He has said many times he will stay on as MP.”
Priti Patel and Suella Braverman are among those likely to enter the leadership race.
Sunak made a dignified speech, wishing Starmer and his family well. “His successes will be all our successes,” he said. “He is a decent public-spirited man who I respect. He and his family deserve the best of our understanding as they make their transition to new lives.”
He thanked the civil service, his staff and his wife and daughters for the sacrifices they have made so that he could serve his country. As he said this Murty smiled and looked like she was going to cry.
He recounted how just unremarkable it was for the UK that “two generations after his grandparents arrived with little” he could become PM and “watch his two daughters light Diwali candles on the steps of Downing Street. “We must hold true to that idea of who we are.”
Sunak said it pained him that so many colleagues would no longer sit in the House of Commons.
Sunak’s campaign had been ill-starred from the outset when he announced it in the pouring rain. His announcement of compulsory national service was rejected by young people, he was criticised for leaving D-Day events in France early, and then shortly before the election his party got engulfed in a betting scandal.
The writing was on the wall last month when Starmer was sat next to the King’s private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, at the state banquet held in honour of the visiting Emperor and Empress of Japan, and Sunak was not.