Rishi Sunak has become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after political turmoil caused the resignations of both Borish Johnson and Liz Truss in a 50-day span. Sunak won leadership of the party after Johnson announced he would not aim for re-election and Parliament Member Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the race due to insufficient support.

Johnson himself vacated September 6 due to controversy over his appointment of Chris Pincher as Deputy Chief Whip (a position which oversees a political party), who had been accused of sexual assault before his appointment. 

With Johnson’s departure, the new Prime Minister was chosen by his political party, the Conservative Party. In the leadership election, Conservative Party members elected Truss over Sunak as leader of the party, and she consequently entered the office of Prime Minister September 6. 

Truss was voted in on her libertarian economic promises, which Sunak warned would collapse. As Sunak predicted, Truss’s “mini-budget,” which outlined her economic plans as Prime Minister, led to one of the greatest crises in British history. The pound sterling, usually worth around $1.20 in American dollars, lost 25% in value as it sank to being worth equal to $1.00. As worried investors pulled out of Britain and the masses called for Truss to leave office, Truss finally resigned from office October 25 after her own party turned against her. 

Truss’s resignation therefore led to another Conservative Party election, which Sunak comfortably won. He takes the role of Prime Minister during a troublesome time for both his political party, which is facing historic polling lows after the back-to-back failures of Johnson and Truss, and for the country, trying to repair their politics and finances after the fallout of Truss’s plans. Time will tell whether Sunak can turn around the country’s bad fortune.