Global InformationPremiership of Rishi Sunak information
 | This article needs to be updated. (November 2023) |
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| Premiership of Rishi Sunak 25 October 2022 – present | |
| Monarch | Charles III |
|---|---|
| Cabinet | Sunak ministry |
| Party | Conservative Party |
| Seat | 10 Downing Street |
 Coat of Arms of HM Government | |
Rishi Sunak's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 25 October 2022 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Liz Truss. He is the first British Indian to hold the office of prime minister.[1] As prime minister, Sunak is also serving as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union.
Sunak was defeated by Truss in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election and spent the duration of Truss's premiership as a backbencher. Following Truss's resignation amid a government crisis, Sunak was elected unopposed to succeed her after being the sole nominee in the October 2022 party leadership election.[2] He was elected Leader of the Conservative Party on 24 October and was appointed prime minister the following day.[3]
As prime minister, Sunak has authorised foreign aid and weapons shipments to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country. He and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt have continued the levelling up policy introduced during the premiership of Boris Johnson. In January 2023, Sunak outlined five key priorities, one of which is the Illegal Migration Bill.[4] In February 2023, Sunak negotiated a proposed agreement with the European Union (EU) on Northern Ireland's trading arrangements which was published as the "Windsor Framework", which is designed to address the issue of the movement of goods between the European single market and the UK in the current Northern Ireland Protocol; the agreement did not receive the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) until February 2024, when the Northern Ireland Executive was restored following further negotiations between the DUP and Sunak's government. Sunak attended and spoke at the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in May 2023. In his speech at the October 2023 Conservative Party Conference, Sunak announced the cancellation of the western branch and the remainder of the eastern branch of the planned High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line.[5][6][7] Sunak has reshuffled his Cabinet twice, the latter of which resulted in the return of former prime minister David Cameron to government.
A number of scandals involving Conservative MPs have occurred during Sunak's premiership.[8] Gavin Williamson and Dominic Raab resigned from their roles in Cabinet in November 2022 and April 2023 respectively after the former was accused of bullying MPs and the latter was found to have bullied civil servants. Chairman of the Conservative Party Nadhim Zahawi was dismissed by Sunak in January 2023 after he was found to have breached the Ministerial Code by failing to disclose he was being investigated by HM Revenue and Customs while he served as chancellor under Johnson.[9][10] Home Secretary Suella Braverman was widely panned in November 2023, causing huge controversy for comments made about pro-Palestinian protesters and the homeless, which eventually led to her being dismissed by Sunak.
Under Sunak, the Conservative Party lost over 1,000 councillors during the 2023 local elections, while the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats made significant gains, which were the poorest local election results for the party since the 2019 local elections under Prime Minister Theresa May. Sunak has also faced several of his MPs stepping down before the next general election, including Chris Pincher and Peter Bone.
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- ^ "Rishi Sunak: A quick guide to the UK's new prime minister". BBC News. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Watch as Sunak declared Tory contest winner". BBC News. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Rishi Sunak: The wealthy millennial who rocketed to power". BBC News. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Rishi Sunak: Hurdles in the race to pass Illegal Migration Bill". BBC News. 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
- ^ Walker, Peter (4 October 2023). "Rishi Sunak announces scaling back of HS2 in Tory conference speech". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
HS2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Parker, George (4 October 2023). "Rishi Sunak axes northern leg of HS2 in flurry of 'radical' decisions". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ Helm, Toby; Savage, Michael; Ungoed-Thomas, Jon; Inman, Phillip (29 January 2023). "Sleaze, scandal and the ghost of Boris Johnson – can 'hopelessly weak' Sunak handle the job?". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ "Dominic Raab facing inquiry into two behaviour complaints". BBC News. 16 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigns after bullying probe". Reuters. Retrieved 21 April 2023.