Rishi Sunak will be appointed as the country’s next prime minister by the King and look to build a new Cabinet that might unite a fractious Tory party.
He won the Tory leadership contest without a vote being cast after rivals Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson dropped out, and will replace Liz Truss in No 10 on Tuesday.
The handover of power will see Ms Truss, who quit last week after only six weeks in the top job, hold her final Cabinet meeting and give a farewell speech in Downing Street before formally tendering her resignation to Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Once she has left, it will be Mr Sunak’s turn to see the King, who will ask him to form an administration.
Mr Sunak is expected to address the nation just before noon, before entering No 10 as the UK’s first Hindu prime minister, the first of Asian heritage, and the youngest for more than 200 years at the age of 42.
The former chancellor will then turn his attention to assembling a top team that he will hope can return a measure of stability to both the Conservatives and the country.
He has been urged to avoid Ms Truss’s perceived error of appointing loyalists to key roles, with James Cleverly calling for the overhauled Cabinet to feature the best ministers.
The Foreign Secretary told Sky News: “We have got to have the first 15 on the pitch. I know that Rishi understands that.”
Mr Sunak will look to build a Cabinet of “all the talents” that will see the political return of the “adults”, according to reports.
While his team was remaining tight-lipped about the possible make-up of the team, his long-time backers Dominic Raab, the former justice secretary, Commons Treasury Committee chair Mel Stride and ex-chief whip Mark Harper were tipped to be in it.
Mr Harper told BBC Two’s Newsnight: “He commands the majority support in the House of Commons and that’s the basis on which he is entitled to be prime minister and he will govern and deliver the 2019 manifesto.”
But Labour’s Wes Streeting was less convinced.
Here’s what he had to say:
Related: Sunak speech lampooned for ‘pork markets delivery style’
