Senior Conservatives have congratulated Rishi Sunak after it was confirmed he will become the UK’s next prime minister – but Labour has reiterated its calls for an immediate general election.
He will enter Downing Street less than two months after he lost the last Conservative leadership race in the summer.
Former PM David Cameron was among the first to offer his congratulations, adding that he is “proud” to see Mr Sunak become the UK’s first British Indian prime minister.
“Huge congratulations Rishi Sunak on becoming PM to lead us through challenging times,” he posted on social media.
“I predicted a decade ago that Conservatives would select our first Brit Indian PM and proud today that comes to be.
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“I wish Rishi the v best, he has my wholehearted support.”
Conservative peer Baroness Warsi, a former cabinet minister, described Mr Sunak’s election as a “historic moment”.
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“Whatever your politics, this moment shows change and what is possible,” she said.
“The party that once had amongst its ranks Oswald Mosley and in living memory Enoch Powell now has a PM of Indian heritage and of the Hindu faith and notably. Rishi Sunak is unapologetically both.”
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi said Mr Sunak’s election proves “the United Kingdom is a place where you can achieve amazing things”.
In a post on social media, he added: “Under Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives we will never stop helping people make their British dream come true, regardless of their background. Congratulations, Rishi.”
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Moment Rishi Sunak announced as next PM
Ms Truss, who quit as PM last week after just 44 days, offered her congratulations to Mr Sunak, adding: “You have my full support.”
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, who withdrew from the contest at the last minute, said the same – and urged her Conservative colleagues to “unite and work together for the good of the nation”.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told Sky News: “We have absolutely got to focus on the needs of the British people
“That means uniting round the prime minister. We don’t have the luxury of argument and division. We have to focus on delivery for the British people.”
Business Secretary and Boris Johnson-backer Jacob Rees-Mogg agreed that “now is the time for party unity”.
Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry called for an end to Tory infighting, saying: “Now is the time for the whole party to come together and unite four-square behind Rishi, as he gets on with the vital work of tackling the challenges we face as a country.
He added that “the time for internal debates is well and truly over”.
Former PM Theresa May was among others to offer their congratulations.
“Rishi will provide the calm, competent, pragmatic leadership our country needs at this deeply challenging time. He has my full support,” she said.
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4:56
Analysis: Challenges ahead for Sunak
But Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner accused the former chancellor of having “no mandate” to govern, and reiterated her party’s demands for an immediate general election.
“The Tories have crowned Rishi Sunak without him saying a word about what he would do as PM,” she said.
“He has no mandate, no answers and no ideas.
“Nobody voted for this. The public deserve their say on Britain’s future through a general election. It’s time for a fresh start with Labour.”
Ms Rayner added that Mr Sunak was “already putting party before country” by addressing Tory MPs before the public this afternoon.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reinforced this view.
“Congratulations to Rishi Sunak – I wish him well and, notwithstanding our political differences, will do my best to build a constructive working relationship with him in the interests of those we serve,” she said.
“That he becomes the first British Asian – indeed the first from any minority ethnic background – to become PM is a genuinely significant moment. It certainly makes this a special Diwali
“As for the politics, I’d suggest one immediate decision he should take and one he certainly should not. He should call an early general election. And he should not – must not – unleash another round of austerity. Our public services will not withstand that.”
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But former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith disagreed: “I don’t think there is any need for a general election, I don’t want one now. I want us to deliver on what we said we’d do and then go to the polls in the normal time.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the Tories of installing “another out-of-touch prime minister”, as he also called for the public to have the chance to go to the polls.
“The Conservative Party has trashed the British economy, pushed local health services to the brink, and added hundreds of pounds to people’s monthly mortgage payments,” he said in a statement.
“Now Conservative MPs have installed another out-of-touch prime minister with no plan to repair the damage and without giving the British people a say.”
Accusing Mr Sunak of not understanding “the challenges facing struggling families and pensioners”, he continued: “The only way to end the chaos is a general election now.”
Mr Sunak will be formally appointed to the role in a handover of power overseen by the King within the coming days.
Richard and Yalda are joined by one of the world’s most eminent historians and political commentators to discuss culture wars, trade wars, and the possibility of World War Three over Taiwan.
Sir Niall says the US may be in the stage of “buyer’s remorse” with the Trump presidency, and predicts that by this time next year, he could be “deeply underwater” in the polls.
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Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”
The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.
However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”
Image: Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.
It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.
She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”
A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition
Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.
In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.
The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.
They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.
Image: Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution
Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.
“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”
Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.
Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.
Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.
Confusion away from the chaos
Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.
In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.
“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.
It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned
France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.
In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.
It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.
Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.
Later she was meeting with her American distributors.
Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.
He says the entire industry is reeling
Image: Sylvie Courselle with distributers
Image: The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.
“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”
They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.
“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.
It is, she says, very stressful.
Image: Gerry Keogh
The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.
America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Donald Trump its now seen here as turning on France and the rest of Europe in a reckless and unjustified trade war.
It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.
How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.
Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community. and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”
The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.
However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”
Image: Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.
It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.
She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”
A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition
Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.
In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.
The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.
They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.
Image: Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution
Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.
“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”
Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.
Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.
Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.
Confusion away from the chaos
Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.
In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.
“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.
It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned
France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.
In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.
It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.
Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.
Later she was meeting with her American distributors.
Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.
He says the entire industry is reeling
Image: Sylvie Courselle with distributers
Image: The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.
“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”
They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.
“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.
It is, she says, very stressful.
Image: Gerry Keogh
The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.
America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Mr Trump it is now being as turned on, as France, along with the rest of Europe, finds itself in what many would argue is a reckless and unjustified trade war.
It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.
How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.