Rishi Sunak officially takes over as British prime minister
CBC
Rishi Sunak was installed as Britain's third prime minister of the year by King Charles on Tuesday, and will next appoint a cabinet that will have to wrestle with the U.K.'s economic and political crises.
King Charles assumed the ceremonial role of accepting Liz Truss's resignation at Buckingham Palace before asking Sunak to form a government.
Sunak then returned to the prime minister's office at 10 Downing St., promising to tackle Britain's "profound economic crisis" and earn the country's trust in an address to the nation.
"I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government's agenda," said Sunak. "This will mean difficult decisions to come."
Sunak pledged in doing so to "not leave the next generation — your children and your grandchildren —with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves."
Sunak was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging popularity, after the brief, disastrous term of Truss.
Truss departed after making a public statement, seven weeks to the day after she was appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth, who died two days later.
Truss offered a defence of her low-tax economic vision and her brief term in office before being driven from the prime minister's official residence for the last time.
"I am more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the problems we face," she said. She stood by the free-market principles of "lower taxes" and "delivering growth," despite the market mayhem triggered by her Sept. 23 budget package.
Sunak — the first prime minister of colour and, at 42, the youngest British leader for more than 200 years — must try to shore up an economy sliding toward recession and reeling after his predecessor's experiment in libertarian economics, while also attempting to unite a demoralized and divided party that trails far behind the opposition in opinion polls.
He characterized Truss's approach, which spooked the markets, as a well-meaning attempt "not born of ill will" to promote growth, but ultimately a mistake.
His top priorities will be appointing cabinet ministers and preparing for next week's budget statement that will set out how the government plans to come up with billions of pounds to fill a fiscal hole created by soaring inflation and a sluggish economy, and exacerbated by Truss' destabilizing economic experiments.
The statement, set to feature tax increases and spending cuts, is currently due to be made in Parliament on Oct. 31 by Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt — if Sunak keeps him in the job.
Sunak, who was Treasury chief himself for two years until July, said Monday that Britain faces "a profound economic challenge."
