Rishi Sunak will be the next prime minister of the UK.
Sunak (pictured) stepped down as chancellor over the summer precipitating a chain of events which led to the resignation of then PM Boris Johnson.
Johnson was succeeded by former foreign secretary Liz Truss in September who defeated Sunak in a poll of Conservative party members.
Truss resigned as PM last week following a disastrous seven week stint in office which included the announcement of a mini-Budget by then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng containing a number of tax cuts that triggered major economic distress for the UK.
Much of this was subsequently reversed by chancellor Jeremy Hunt who replaced the sacked Kwateng ten days ago to become the fourth Conservative chancellor in four months.
Sunak now takes office after exceeding the number of backers needed from Tory MPs and as rival Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the race this afternoon.