Rishi Sunak's first reaction after losing to Liz Truss in UK PM race: 'Time to...'

While Rishi Sunak polled 60,399 votes, his fellow party leader Liz Truss received 81,326 votes.

New Delhi: Minutes after being defeated in the leadership contest to succeed Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak on Monday (September 5, 2022) asked the Conservative Party members to "unite" behind the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Liz Truss. Sunak, who polled 60,399 votes as compared to his fellow party leader Truss' 81,326, said that the "Conservatives are one family". 

Taking to his official Twitter account, the 42-year-old British Indian former Chancellor thanked everyone who voted for him.

"Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign. I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family. It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times," Sunak tweeted.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign.

I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family.

It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times. — Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) September 5, 2022

Truss, 47, is the third female Prime Minister in Britain after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

Liz Truss says she will take bold action to get UK through these 'tough times'

After winning the hard-fought Conservative Party leadership race, UK foreign secretary Liz Truss said that she will take bold action to get Britain through "these tough times".

"I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party. Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country. I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential," she said in a tweet.

I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party.

Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country.

I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential. pic.twitter.com/xCGGTJzjqb — Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 5, 2022

In her acceptance speech, Truss declared, "We will deliver, we will deliver, and we will deliver."

"I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people's energy bills but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply," she said, with reference to the key issue dominating the leadership campaign which she dubbed "one of the longest job interviews in history".

After thanking her fellow finalist Sunak, Truss also paid tribute to outgoing leader Johnson.

"Boris, you got Brexit done, you crushed [Opposition Labour ex-leader] Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle," she said.

(With inputs from agencies)