Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss enter final battle to become UK PM

Rishi Sunak came one step closer to becoming the first non-white, British-Indian and Hindu prime minister of the UK on Wednesday after he and foreign secretary Liz Truss made it through to the final round of the Conservative party leadership contest to determine Boris Johnson’s successor.
Sunak, Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law, who had topped every ballot of Conservative MPs so far, also topped the final ballot on Wednesday when he got 137 votes, whilst Truss, who seemed to have benefited the most from Kemi Badenoch being eliminated, got 113 votes, which meant that junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt, who had been subjected to hostile briefings in the media and was criticised for lacking detail in her policies, was eliminated with 105 votes.
More than 16,000 party members will now choose the leader in a postal ballot and hustings that will take place up and down the country.
The ballot will close on September 2 and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, will announce the name of the new prime minister and Conservative party leader at 12.30 pm on Monday, September 5.
Tory MP Michael Fabricant tweeted: “It was close. I’m sad Penny didn’t make it. I now back Liz Truss. She stayed loyal to the end and didn’t plot and scheme against #Boris.”
Tensions flared between Truss and Sunak during the ITV debate on Sunday when Truss had a dig at the elite Winchester College that Sunak went to, saying she went to a comprehensive school in the north of England and did not have the educational standards he had had, whilst Sunak asked her which she regretted most — being a Remainer or a Lib Dem. Sunak also accused her of being a socialist promoting “something for nothing economics”, whilst Truss accused him of “raising taxes to the highest level in 70 years.”
Former cabinet minister Liam Fox MP, backing Sunak, told the BBC he hoped going forward it would less blue-on-blue attacks and more about the values candidates are promoting. “Sunak is the most competent and experienced of the candidates. In the debate he was all over the detail right across government, he believes in a free market economy and is best placed to win a general election. He has a big appeal across the party. The biggest number of MPs have gone for Rishi and we know the candidates better than anyone else. We all want to see taxes down but we can’t borrow money to cut taxes at a time when you have inflation. That can make inflation worse,” he said.
Many British Indians are rallying for Sunak to be PM although it is not known how many are in the Conservative party who can influence the vote.
Ashish Popat of Indians Voice UK said: “Being Indian origin is one of the reasons we support him but it is also the way he handled everything during the pandemic — helping businesses and self-employed. If he had not done that, many people would be in a bad situation. The work he has done is impressive. We feel he is an accomplished candidate and being of Indian origin makes us proud. He can be a role model to our children.”
“This is a historic result for the Conservative party which reflects the tremendous progress the party has made in promoting diversity and inclusion. Britain could have its first British Indian, non-white candidate in Rishi Sunak, or Britain’s third female Prime Minister in Liz Truss. Both have lots to offer with their wealth of experience in government. Now Conservative members will have the opportunity to hear from the candidates before they cast their votes,” said Ameet Jogia, co-chair, Conservative Friends of India.