With Liz Truss' victory, UK's century-long wait for Prime Minister of colour continues

The elections for the Prime Ministerial position of the United Kingdom yielded the victory of Liz Truss against Rishi Sunak on Monday, September 5. With Truss being elected for the PM post, the number of women who have helmed the top post rises to three, the other two being Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher. However, UK's wait for its first coloured leader continues. From the de-facto first Prime Minister Robert Walpole to the last, Boris Johnson, none had a coloured descent. 

UK awaits its first PM of colour

Amid a flurry of resignations by Cabinet members over the sexual misconduct scandal, Boris Johnson stepped down as the leader of the Conservative Party, and the PM of the UK. To replace Johnson, there were in total 8 candidates in the fray. Two of Indian origin- Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman, one of African origin- Kemi Badenoch and one Iraq-born- Nadhim Zahawi. The other four- Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss and Jeremy Hunt. In the history of the country, it was the most diverse line-up of candidates. 

After five rounds, six of the eight candidates were eliminated with the final competition being between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. While Sunak came off as a 'betrayer', Truss portrayed herself as a 'loyal person' in the three-month-long competition, with the latter staying ahead of the former with 66 per cent votes to his 34 per cent till August 16. 

Truss gives Sunak the coldest of cold shoulders 

On the result day, Liz Truss decimated Rishi Sunak to become Boris Johnson’s successor and leader of the Conservative Party. Truss secured 81,326 votes against Sunak's 60,399 votes, defeating the latter by a margin of 20927 votes. Truss amid loud applause and cheer took to the stage to deliver her first speech.

Thanking everyone, the PM-elect gave a rather cold shoulder to the defeated. In what was a two-line, seemingly perfunctory reference, she said, "I would like to pay tribute to my fellow candidates, particularly Rishi Sunak. It's been a powerful campaign, I think we have shown the depths of talent in our Conservative Party."