Rishi Sunak officially becomes United Kingdom PM following a meeting with King Charles

Following a meeting with King Charles III, Rishi Sunak was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 25.

The monarch traditionally invites the leader of the party with the most MPs to form a government, which has been the Conservatives since the 2019 general election.

Sunak stated after the meeting in a speech outside 10 Downing Street: “Our country is in the grip of a severe economic crisis. The fallout from Covid continues to linger; Putin’s war in Ukraine has destabilized energy markets and supply chains worldwide.”

He praised his predecessor, Liz Truss, saying she was “not wrong” to want to boost UK growth.

He said, “some mistakes were made,” not “borne of ill will or bad intentions” but “mistakes nonetheless” and he had been elected “in part to fix them.”

He added: “I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of the government’s agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come. But you saw me during Covid doing everything I could to protect people and businesses with schemes like furlough. There are always limits, more so than ever, but I promise you this. I will bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today.”

Sunak is now expected to begin appointing new cabinet figures in yet another reshuffle at the top of British politics.

He was elected party leader by fellow Conservative lawmakers on Monday, October 24, following the resignation of Truss on Thursday, October 20.

Sunak is the third prime minister the UK will have in one year.