Rishi Sunak's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 25 October 2022 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Liz Truss, and ended on 5 July 2024 upon his resignation. He is the first British Asian and the first Hindu to hold the office. Sunak's premiership was dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Gaza war, the cost-of-living crisis, and the Rwanda asylum plan. As prime minister, Sunak also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union, and Leader of the Conservative Party.
Sunak stood in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election to succeed Boris Johnson, who resigned amidst a government crisis. He received the most votes in each of the parliamentary ballots, but lost the members' vote to the foreign secretary, Liz Truss. After spending the duration of her premiership as a backbencher, he was elected unopposed in the October party leadership election to succeed her, Truss having resigned in another government crisis; at 42 he was the youngest prime minister since Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool in 1812.
Sunak took office amidst the cost-of-living and energy-supply crises that began during his tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as during industrial disputes and strikes. In 2023, Sunak outlined five key priorities: halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting debt, reducing NHS waiting lists, and stopping the illegal small-boat crossings of the English Channel (by enacting the Rwanda asylum plan). Sunak negotiated a proposed agreement with the European Union (EU) on Northern Ireland's trading arrangements which was published as the Windsor Framework.
On foreign policy, Sunak authorised foreign aid and weapons shipments to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country, and after the October 7 attacks which began the Gaza war, Sunak pledged the UK's support for Israel and declared that Israel "has an absolute right to defend itself", but later condemned the high number of civilian casualties during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and called for a sustainable ceasefire.
During his premiership, Sunak attempted to improve the economy and stabilise national politics, although many of his pledges and policy announcements ultimately went unfulfilled. He did not avert further unpopularity for the Conservatives, which was reflected in the party's poor performances in the 2023 and 2024 local elections. Sunak called a general election for July 2024 whilst being widely expected to call the election in the autumn; the Conservatives lost this election in a landslide to the opposition Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, ending 14 years of Conservative government. After Starmer succeeded Sunak as prime minister, Sunak became Leader of the Opposition and remained Conservative leader whilst the leadership election to replace him took place, forming a shadow cabinet.
Conservative leadership bids
July–September 2022
Sunak stood in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election to replace Boris Johnson, after his resignation amid a government crisis. Sunak launched his campaign in a video posted to social media, writing that he would "restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country". He said that his values were "patriotism, fairness, hard work", and pledged to "crack down on gender neutral language". During the campaign, Sunak's pledges included tax cuts only when inflation was under control, scrapping of the 5% VAT rate on household energy for one year, introducing a temporary £10 fine for patients who fail to attend GP appointments, capping of refugee numbers, and a tightening of the definition of asylum. Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged as the final two candidates in the contest on 20 July to be put forward to the membership for the final leadership vote; he had received the most votes in each of the series of MP votes with Sunak receiving 137 to Truss' 113 in the final round. In the membership vote, Truss received 57.4% of the vote, making her the new leader over Sunak. He spent the duration of Truss' premiership on the backbenches.
October 2022 Following the resignation of Truss after another government crisis, Sunak stood in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election and formally launched his bid to become Leader of the Conservative Party on 23 October 2022. Sunak was backed by several cabinet members and prominent party members, such as Lord Frost, Kemi Badenoch, Nadhim Zahawi, Matt Hancock, Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Ben Wallace, Priti Patel, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Gove, and Dominic Raab.
Following a change of rules by the 1922 Committee, each potential leader needed the support of at least 100 MPs to be a candidate in the vote, with a deadline of 2 pm on 24 October to secure enough nominations. On 22 October, it was reported that Sunak had the required number of supporters—100 members of the House of Commons—to run in the ballot on 24 October. The total number of MPs who publicly declared support passed 100 on the afternoon of 22 October. On 23 October, Sunak declared he would stand in the contest.
There were two other candidates actively seeking nominations: Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt. However, Johnson announced that evening that he would not declare his candidacy, stating that he would not have enough support from MPs to govern effectively, and Mordaunt withdrew her candidacy on 24 October after being unable to get the nominations of 100 MPs by the deadline. It was subsequently announced by Sir Graham Brady that as the sole candidate who had received the required 100 nominations, Sunak had been elected as the new party leader.
Sunak made a short statement after his appointment as Conservative leader, saying "I am humbled and honoured to have the support of my parliamentary colleagues and to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party. It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love and give back to the country I owe so much to."
Premiership
Appointment as Prime Minister
Sunak was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King Charles III on 25 October 2022, making him the first British Asian prime minister and the first Hindu to hold the office. In his first speech as prime minister, Sunak promised "integrity, professionalism and accountability," and said that "we will create a future worthy of the sacrifices so many have made and fill tomorrow, and everyday thereafter with hope." Of his predecessor, Sunak said that Truss "was not wrong" to want to improve growth and that he "admired her restlessness to create change", but admitted that "some mistakes were made", and that he was elected prime minister in part to fix them. He promised to "place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government's agenda":
On 26 October, Sunak answered his first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs). The same day Sunak also held his first cabinet meeting.
Domestic affairs In January 2023, Sunak outlined five key priorities; halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting debt, reducing NHS waiting lists, and stopping the boats, and expected voters to hold his government and himself to account on delivering those goals.
Climate change In a reversal of his predecessor's policy, Sunak reinstated the ban on fracking on 26 October 2022 as outlined in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.
In December 2022, Sunak was faced with the need to make concessions on a proposed ban on onshore wind farms to be contained in the government's Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.British PM Sunak faces new demands from his fractious party Reuters A number of Conservative MPs, including Johnson and Truss, said they would back a rebel amendment to the bill that would remove the ban. At the same time, there was the threat of another rebellion and need to make concessions related to housebuilding targets.
In December 2022, Sunak said it was "completely unacceptable" that ordinary people were having their lives disrupted by environmental protests. He stated that police commanders had his full support "to suppress any unlawful protest". He also promised to bring in new laws to tackle illegal immigration, saying anyone who comes to the UK illegally will not be allowed to stay.
On 20 September 2023, Sunak announced a major rethink of the UK government's strategy to achieve net zero carbon output in the UK by 2050, including postponing banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035. He justified the changes to the government's net zero strategy by saying that the UK government should not impose "unacceptable costs" of net zero policies on working families. However, these changes were met with criticism from the opposition and business leaders.
In his speech at the 2023 Conservative Party Conference, which took place in Manchester in October, Sunak announced the cancellation of the northern leg (between Birmingham and Manchester) and the remainder of the eastern leg (to East Midlands Parkway) of the planned High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line. Instead, Sunak announced a reallocation of funds for transport projects in the North of England. The announcement was met with criticism from former prime minister David Cameron who said the cancellation would "make it much harder to build consensus for any future long-term projects".
Climate change conferences
On 27 October 2022, Sunak announced he would not attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt "due to other pressing domestic commitments". On 2 November, following pressure from MPs, environmentalist campaigners and others, Sunak announced that he would attend. Sunak attended a reception held by King Charles at Buckingham Palace on 4 November. Sunak told the meeting of approximately 200 politicians and campaigners that the UK will continue with its environmental aims after the end of its COP 26 presidency. In his speech Sunak warned that as climate change ravages the planet there will be more human suffering and that because of inaction, people risk giving their children a desperate inheritance. Sunak also paid tribute to King Charles' longstanding work for the environment.
On 7 November at the COP 27 summit, Sunak launched The Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership (FCLP), building on a policy called the Glasgow Climate Pact, originally started at COP 26. The partnership aims to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, bringing 26 countries and the European Union together. These countries account for 60% of global GDP and over 33% of the world's forests and together with private funding, the partnership has total funds of $23.8bn. Sunak said in his speech to the Forest and Climate Leaders' Summit that the world's forests have been undervalued and underestimated, yet were one of the natural wonders of the world. He then asked attendees to build upon what had already been achieved to secure an incredible legacy for generations to come. The FCLP will hold annual meetings and starting in 2023, it will publish an annual Global Progress Report that includes independent assessments.
Coronation of Charles III and Camilla
Sunak attended the coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023 in his capacity as prime minister, along with all living former prime ministers and his wife Akshata Murty. The following day, Sunak hosted a coronation lunch outside 10 Downing Street, which was attended by volunteers, Ukrainian refugees and youth groups, and U.S. First Lady Jill Biden.
Economy
In November 2022 the Bank of England feared the UK would experience prolonged recession and feared unemployment would probably double to 6.5%.