After a mainly shadowy leadership race, the veil has cleared and we now have a new prime minister. We’ll never know how many supporters Penny Mordaunt – or Boris Johnson – had, but it wasn’t clear if this would be a coronation or a struggle until the very end.
It is extraordinary to see the man who was defeated by Liz Truss seven weeks ago replacing her so soon. This time 12 days ago, Kwasi Kwarteng was chancellor and Liz Truss was pushing ahead with her economic vision. Few could have imagined Rishi Sunak would have another shot at the top job so soon.
But today it became clear a Sunak era was close. Pressure had been mounting on Ms. Mordaunt, who was stuck on 25 public endorsements this morning, to pull out as her team dug in. Behind the scenes, they said she had more than 90 backers. She might indeed have been close, but the momentum from the start of this race has been with Mr Sunak.
He did no media interviews, there were no swish videos – just one plain statement announcing he wanted to be the next prime minister.
The former chancellor has managed to bring together very different wings of the party, from Caroline Naokes to Suella Braverman. Even the most ardent of Boris Johnson backers James Duddridge eventually rowed in behind Mr Sunak. His allies say has been proven right on the economy, but the divisions in the Tory party run deep and could quickly resurface. He inherits a grim in-tray in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and will need to find a way to stop the Tory party from tearing itself apart.
They say divided parties don’t win elections. As the next general election slowly starts to creep into view, will Mr Sunak be able to unite the party enough to govern effectively? He certainly has his work cut out.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Source: Skynews