New Delhi: Former British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Wednesday made it to the final leg of the race to succeed Boris Johnson as the British Prime Minister. According to a report by news agency PTI, Sunak won the fifth and final round of voting of the Tory MPs with 137 votes while second-placed Truss won the support of 113 MPs. Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out of the PM race after coming third with 105 votes.
As per the report, the 42-year-old British Indian former Chancellor, who has been topping every voting round so far, added 19 more votes to the tally on Tuesday and crossed the 120-mark that is seen as the threshold to confirm a place in the final leg.
It is to be noted that Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are now set for their first head-on clash in a live televised debate on the BBC for Monday.
Earlier, outgoing Prime Minister Johnson used his last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons to bid farewell to the top post with the Spanish phrase “hasta la vista, baby”.
In his final speech, Johnson gave some words of advice for his successor.
“I want to use the last few seconds, Mr Speaker, to give some words of advice to my successor, whoever he or she may be. Number one, stay close to the Americans, stick up for the Ukrainians, stick up for freedom and democracy everywhere,” Johnson said.
“Cut taxes and deregulate wherever you can to make this the greatest place to live and invest, which it is. I love the Treasury, but remember, that if we’d always listened to the Treasury, we wouldn’t have built the M25 or the Channel Tunnel. Focus on the road ahead, but always remember to check the rear-view mirror,” the outgoing PM added.
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