New premier Sunak warns U.K. faces 'profound economic challenge'

Rishi Sunak warned the U.K. faces a “profound economic challenge” as he prepares to take power after emerging victorious in the race to succeed Liz Truss as prime minister.

In a short address just hours after Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the race for 10 Downing Street leaving the route clear for him, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, 42, vowed to make it his “utmost priority” to unite both the nation and his warring Conservative Party. “I will work day in and day out to deliver for the British people,” he said.

Sunak faces a formidable challenge to steady the U.K. economy in the face of headwinds including double-digit inflation, rising interest rates and a surge in mortgage costs. After Truss’s disastrous 7 weeks in power left the Tories languishing in opinion polls, he also has a tricky task to unite the different Tory factions. with many of the party’s Members of Parliament, blaming him for the downfall of Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, earlier in the year.

Earlier, Sunak told Tory MPs their party faces an “existential threat,” according to Simon Hoare, a Tory lawmaker present at his address behind closed doors. His call for unity echoed Mordaunt’s words in her concession shortly before 2 p.m. local time. She had urged the Tories to “unite and work together for the good of the nation.”