Rishi Sunak to be appointed PM before building Cabinet

Rishi Sunak would be appointed as Britain’s next prime minister by the King on Tuesday as he looks to build a new Cabinet that might unite a fractious Conservative party.

He took up the reins as leader of the Conservative Party without a vote after rivals Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson dropped out of the race for No 10 and would replace Liz Truss in the top job on Tuesday.

Allies hopes he will stabilise the party following Mr Johnson’s dramatic downfall and his successor’s tumultuous tenure spanning only six weeks.

Liz Truss will hold her final Cabinet meeting and give a farewell speech in Downing Street before formally tendering her resignation to Charles at Buckingham Palace.

Once she has left, it will be Mr Sunak’s turn to see the King, who will ask him to form an administration.

The new Tory leader is expected to address the nation just before noon, before entering No 10 as the UK’s first Hindu prime minister.

The first of Asian heritage, and the youngest for more than 200 years at the age of 42.

The former chancellor would then turn his attention to assembling a top team that he would hope can return a measure of stability to both the Conservatives and the country.

Out to bat for the Sunak camp on Tuesday, former minister Victoria Atkins said she believed the Tories had “turned a corner” and would now “settle down” under the stewardship of the new PM.

She insisted he would stick to the Conservative 2019 manifesto, meaning there would be a continued focus on levelling up, the NHS and security.

Mr Sunak has been urged to avoid Ms Truss’s perceived error of appointing loyalists to key roles, with James Cleverly calling for the overhauled Cabinet to feature the best ministers.

The Foreign Secretary told Sky News: “We have got to have the first 15 on the pitch. I know that Rishi understands that.”

Mr Sunak will look to build a Cabinet of “all the talents” that would see the political return of the “adults”, according to reports.

While his team were remaining tight-lipped about the possible Cabinet composition, long-time backers Dominic Raab, the former justice secretary, Commons Treasury Committee chairman Mel Stride and ex-chief whip Mark Harper were tipped to be in it.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in to steady Ms Truss’s ailing Government and has been working towards a highly-anticipated Halloween fiscal statement, is widely expected to keep the keys to No 11 to try to stabilise the jittery markets.

Ms Mordaunt, bowed out of the race to hand Mr Sunak a spectacular political comeback as she failed to get the 100 nominations from Tory MPs.

Mordaunt is expected to get some kind of promotion with some speculating that she could replace Mr Cleverly as foreign secretary.

Mr Sunak ruled out an early general election demanded by opposition parties as the Tories move on their third prime minister on the mandate won by Mr Johnson in 2019.