Rishi Sunak to be crowned UK prime minister after last remaining rival drops out

Rishi Sunak will be the next prime minister of the UK after his last remaining rival Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the contest.

Sunak, the former chancellor, amassed support from more than 180 Conservative MPs to succeed Liz Truss, who resigned last Thursday after a chaotic six weeks in office.

It caps a remarkable political comeback for Sunak, who just last month was defeated in a head-to-head contest with Truss and was not included in her top team.

Mordaunt, who trailed Sunak in terms of support from her parliamentary colleagues, announced on Monday that she would withdraw from the contest and endorse Sunak.

Her decision avoids the need for a vote by Conservative Party members, who would have been balloted this week following an indicative vote of Tory MPs that had been planned for Monday afternoon.

Instead, Sunak will now automatically be appointed prime minister. He is expected take office either Monday or Tuesday once a meeting with King Charles III has been agreed. Truss remains prime minister until the formal hand-over.