London: Rishi Sunak’s hopes of becoming the Prime Minister of UK seem to be fading.
The former finance led in the early part of the race to 10, Downing Street as he received maximum support from Conservative Party members of Parliament.
But as the race narrowed down to two candidates and enters the final lap, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss appears to be surging ahead as they seek the votes of around 175,000 Tory party members.
According to betting exchange firm Smarkets, Liz has been rated a 90 per cent shot to succeed Boris Johnson as the head of UK Conservative Party and Prime Minister, while Sunak’s chances have plummeted to 10 per cent.
“When the race first narrowed down to the final two, Truss was rated a 60-40 favourite to win, but the odds have continued to move in her favour… Many were forecasting that Rishi Sunak would be a better campaigner, but Truss’ debate performances have beaten expectations,” Bloomberg quoted Matthew Shaddick, head of political markets at Smarkets, as saying.
Sunak did concede a few days ago that he was the underdog in the race to be next UK prime minister, but vowed to fight for every vote.
Truss was also seen as the strongest performer in a BBC television debate earlier this week, according to a poll of 507 Conservative party members.
Pushed to a corner, Johnson was forced to announce his resignation on July 7. The hunt for the next PM from among the party started with 11 candidates, which was whittled down to Truss and Sunak.
The country will get its next PM on September 5.
