By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Rishi Sunak is set to be the next Prime Minister of the U.K., after his last remaining rival Penny Mordaunt failed to gather enough support from fellow lawmakers to proceed with her bid.
Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative Members of Parliament, said in a statement that Sunak was the only candidate to cross the required threshold of 100 declared supporters. Mordaunt acknowledged the result, paving the way for Sunak to be confirmed as party leader by the nationwide party membership.
The Conservative Party's members had roundly rejected Sunak in a run-off with Liz Truss earlier this summer, preferring Truss's agenda of low taxes and deregulation. Sunak had warned that that agenda would not survive its first encounter with market realities at a time of high inflation and little slack in the economy, and was subsequently proved right by events, as markets pushed the pound to a record low and dumped U.K. government bonds in response.