Rishi Sunak officially becomes UK PM after meeting King Charles

Rishi Sunak officially becomes UK PM after meeting King CharlesRishi Sunak on Tuesday, October 25, became the UK’s prime minister following a meeting with King Charles III.

The tradition sees the monarch invite the leader of the party with the highest number of MPs to form a government, which since the 2019 general election has been the Conservatives. In a speech outside 10 Downing Street after the meeting, Sunak said:

“Our country is facing a profound economic crisis. The aftermath of Covid still lingers, Putin’s war in Ukraine has destabilized energy markets and supply chains the world over.”

He paid tribute to his predecessor Liz Truss, who he said was “not wrong” to want to improve U.K. growth. He said, “some mistakes were made,” not “borne of ill will or bad intentions” but “mistakes nonetheless” and he had been elected “in part to fix them.”

He added:

“I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of the government’s agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come. But you saw me during Covid doing everything I could to protect people and businesses with schemes like furlough.

There are always limits, more so than ever, but I promise you this. I will bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today.”

Sunak is now expected to begin appointing new cabinet figures in yet another reshuffle at the top of British politics.

He was elected party leader by fellow Conservative lawmakers on Monday, October 24, following the resignation of Truss on Thursday, October 20.

Sunak is the third prime minister the UK will have in one year.

Rishi Sunak to become next UK PM after Johnson pulls out

Rishi Sunak is favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister after Boris Johnson pulled out of the Conservative Party leadership race to replace Liz Truss, who resigned last week.

Sunak, the 42-year-old former finance minister, could be named leader as soon as Monday to replace Liz Truss, becoming Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months.

With the endorsement of nearly 150 conservative MPs, Sunak, who served as Chancellor under Johnson has emerged as the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race.

The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be tasked with rebuilding Britain’s fiscal reputation through deep spending cuts as it slides into a recession, dragged down by surging energy, food, and mortgage rates.

He will also preside over a party that has bounced from one crisis to the next in recent months, badly split along ideological lines, and a country that is growing increasingly angry at the conduct of its politicians.

“The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis,” Sunak said in a statement declaring his candidacy on Sunday.

First, he must defeat the last candidate in the contest, Penny Mordaunt, who is fighting to secure the support of 100 lawmakers to get on to Monday’s ballot.

Mordaunt, who is leader of parliament’s House of Commons, has so far received the backing of around 25 politicians. More than 150 have backed Sunak.

“He’s not taking anything for granted at all,” interior minister Grant Shapps, a supporter of Sunak, told BBC television.

“He’s speaking to colleagues throughout this morning. And of course, we’ll be hoping to attract sufficient numbers to ensure that this can be put to bed.”

Boris Johnson drops out of UK Prime Minister race

Former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has ruled himself out of returning to the job.

This week speculations of Johnson’s impending move to replace Liz Truss intensified after she resigned following just 45 days in office.

Truss had replaced Johnson who was forced out of office in July following a series of scandals.

In the wake of Truss’ resignation, Johnson had reportedly undertaken consultations to see if he has support to return, meaning he would need to secure 100 nominations from Conservative lawmakers.

Despite some Conservative lawmakers publicly expressing their support for the former prime minister, Johnson in a statement on Sunday, October 23 withdrew his interest, saying he has enough support but has decided it is not the right thing to do.

“In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once again contest the Conservative Party leadership, both among the public and among friends and colleagues in parliament.

I have been attracted because I led our party into a massive election victory less than three years ago – and I believe I am therefore uniquely placed to avert a general election now,” the statement reads.

“A general election would be a further disastrous distraction just when the government must focus on the economic pressures faced by families across the country.

I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 – and tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow.

“There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members – and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday.

But in the course of the last days, I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.

“And though I have reached out to both Rishi (Sunak) and Penny (Mordaunt) – because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest – we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this.

Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds. I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”

Johnson’s withdrawal leaves the race open to Sunak, former finance minister, and Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons.

Liz Truss officially becomes Britain’s 56th Prime Minister after ‘kissing hands’ with the Queen at Balmoral

Liz Truss is officially Britain’s 56th Prime Minister after Boris Johnson tendered his resignation before the Queen asked her to form a government.

The newly-installed PM emerged from the monarch’s Balmoral residence in Scotland after completing the handover of power, a process known as ‘kissing hands’. In a statement, Buckingham Palace said:

‘The Queen received in audience The Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP today and requested her to form a new administration. Ms Truss accepted Her Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon her appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.’

The grand moment came shortly after Mr. Boris Johnson – accompanied by wife Carrie – left Balmoral following his final 40-minute audience with the Queen.

A statement from Buckingham Palace said the monarch had been ‘graciously pleased’ to accept. Ms. Truss will have little time to celebrate as she must head back to London to thrash out plans for curbing soaring energy bills.

She is expected to cap the typical household bill at £2,500 a year with costs further offset by keeping the £400 handout that had already been committed. That would leave the level only slightly higher than the £1,900 existing cap, and a thousand pounds below the figure it was due to hit next month, according to Mail Online.

Ms Truss will deliver her own speech on the steps of Downing Street around 4pm. The foreign secretary becomes the nation’s third female after she secured just over 81,000 to Mr. Sunak’s just over 60,000.

Liz Truss to become UK’s next prime minister after beating Rishi Sunak in race to succeed Boris Johnson

Liz Truss will become the next prime minister after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership contest on Monday, September 5.

The foreign secretary will succeed Boris Johnson on Tuesday September 6, and become the nation’s third female. She secured just over 81,000 to Mr. Sunak’s just over 60,000.

Ms Truss is expected to make a speech outside Number 10 once she takes office and will then get to work on appointing her cabinet.

In a break from tradition on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson and his successor will go to Balmoral rather than Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth, who will ask the new leader to form a government. The pair would fly there in separate planes for security reasons.

Boris Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal and will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland to formally tender his resignation.

Ms. Truss has promised to announce further help to shield consumers within a week of taking over.

She plans to deliver £30bn in tax cuts through an emergency Budget later this month, arguing the UK’s tax burden is behind sluggish growth.

Coup in Sudan, Prime minister, other govt officials arrested

Military forces have taken over the government of Sudan in what appears as a coup, as the Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok was arrested and moved to an unknown location on Monday.

Some other members of the government were reported to have also been placed under arrest, the country’s information ministry revealed.

After he refused to be a part of the coup, a force from the army detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and took him to an unidentified location,” the ministry said in a statement.

More details coming…

Every care home resident in England offered #covid19 vaccine.

Every eligible care home resident in England has been offered covid19 vaccine, the NHS has announced.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as a “crucial milestone”. The UK target is to vaccinate all care home residents and carers, people over 70, and frontline care workers, by 15 February. On Saturday a record 598,389 first jabs were given across the UK. It means nearly nine million people have received the first dose, with about 490,000 having both.

The EU says AstraZeneca will supply nine million more Covid vaccine doses by March, amid criticism of Europe’s slow vaccination rollout. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was a “step forward”…but the 40m doses now expected are still only around half of what had been hoped for.

FRANCE EXTENDS CURFEW

Coronavirus: France extends overnight curfew as cases surge

France will extend an overnight curfew to dozens more areas in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced.

“The second wave is now under way,” he said, shortly before the country announced a record 41,622 new cases.

The 21:00 to 06:00 curfew will come into force at midnight on Friday, and some 46 million people will now be affected by the measure.

Countries around Europe are struggling with rising infection rates.

France, Italy, Spain and the UK are all hotspots.

“The coming weeks will be hard and the number of deaths will continue to rise,” Mr Castex told a press conference on Thursday. Over the last 24 hours France recorded 162 more deaths.

“If we fail to stop the pandemic, we will be facing a dire situation and we will have to mull much tougher measures,” he added.

“We still have time to avoid that but we don’t have much time,” he said.

The prime minister’s announcement came less than a week after the same curfew was applied to the Paris region and eight other cities, including Marseille, Lyon, Lille and Toulouse.

The restrictions will be extended to 38 more administrative departments as well as the overseas territory of Polynesia, and will remain in place for six weeks.

The overnight curfew has drawn complaints from restaurant owners, whose businesses are already suffering after the two-month lockdown in the spring.

But President Emmanuel Macron has said they are necessary to avoid the risk of hospitals being overrun.

France has reported more than 20,000 new cases over the past six days, and the total number of confirmed infections now stands at nearly one million