Is the UK ready for Rishi Sunak?

As Westminster woke up on Monday, there were just two candidates remaining in the race to succeed Liz Truss as Conservative party leader and prime minister. Boris Johnson had flown back from a Caribbean holiday to attempt a comeback but his campaign stalled and on Sunday night he withdrew, leaving just Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak.

Nosheen Iqbal headed to Westminster, where a day of drama beckoned. The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, was on hand to help make sense of the day’s events as Sunak continued to amass support throughout the morning.

By 2pm it was clear that Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, had not done enough and that Sunak would become prime minister – the third in as many months. The job he faces could barely be bigger: to regain credibility with the markets, to turn around Britain’s current status as an international laughing stock, and to refashion his party into one that can maintain even the minimum standards of internal discipline. All the while, he will need to explain why he is rejecting the constant calls from opposition parties – and many of the general public – to hold a general election.

Photograph: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP

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