Rishi Sunak is the Next U.K. Prime Minister, Making History

Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer (equivalent to the finance minister), is well on his way to becoming the first person of color, the first person of Indian origin, and the first Hindu person to become the prime minister (PM) of the United Kingdom.

After Liz Truss resigned on Thursday, October 20, 2022, Sunak, former PM Boris Johnson, and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt were in the running. However, Johnson and later Mordaunt pulled out, especially as Sunak had won over 100 votes from the Conservative Party leadership, the threshold needed to be in the running for the position by the 1:00 p.m. EST deadline on Monday, October 24.