WORLD

Rishi Sunak, former chancellor, today launched his bid to become the next UK prime minister following Boris Johnson's resignation yesterday.

"Someone has to grip this moment and make the right decisions. That's why I'm standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and your prime minister," Sunak said in a campaign video released on Twitter.

Rishi Sunak's grandparents came from Punjab. He has two daughters with Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy. They met while they were students in California.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party on Thursday following a torrid week in which more than 50 members of his government, including five cabinet ministers, quit in the past three days, all calling for him to step down. He will remain as interim prime minister until a new leader is chosen by his party.

Appearing before the world’s press in front of No. 10 to loud cheers at lunch time, Johnson, looking surprisingly jovial, said: “It is now clearly the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister, and I have agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week.”

Senior British cabinet members on Wednesday huddled at Downing Street with some reportedly urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to quit after dozens of ministers abandoned his scandal-hit government.

A cabinet delegation had awaited his return from a lengthy grilling by a parliamentary committee to tell him his time was up, according to multiple reports.

It was said to include hardline interior minister Priti Patel and Nadhim Zahawi, who has barely been 24 hours in his new job of finance minister.

But two Johnson loyalists -- Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg -- in the cabinet declared their unstinting support as they also entered 10 Downing Street, and the crisis meeting was still continuing more than two hours later.

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was on the brink of collapse on Tuesday night after Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Rishi Sunak, who is Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law, and Pakistani-origin health minister Sajid Javid resigned from the government within half an hour of each other in what appeared to be a coordinated attempt to demonstrate no confidence by the cabinet in his leadership.

Both outgoing cabinet ministers published disparaging resignation letters on Twitter questioning Boris Johnson’s integrity and competence. Further resignations are expected with many speculating it will now be impossible for Johnson to carry on as PM.

A prominent local leader in Pakistan’s Balochistan province has threatened to close from July 21 the strategic Gwadar Port, a major project under the CPEC that provides China an opening to the Arabian Sea, if the demands agreed by the provincial government, including banning the trawler mafia, are not met, a media report said on Monday.

Sprominent local leader in Pakistan’s Balochistan province has threatened to close from July 21 the strategic Gwadar Port, a major project under the CPEC that provides China an opening to the Arabian Sea, if the demands agreed by the provincial government, including banning the trawler mafia, are not met, a media report said on Monday.