New prime minister - latest: Rishi Sunak expected to take up post of PM tomorrow morning - as he hints at make up of cabinet (2023)

Mark Austin has been speaking to Rishi Sunak backer Crispin Blunt MP.

The Tory MP for Reigate refuses to speculate on whether Mr Sunak’s premiership would mean a "new era of austerity" for the UK.

But he says the country, economic markets and the rest of the Tory Party can have "confidence in the direction and oversight of Rishi Sunak" as the new PM.

On whether Jeremy Hunt will stay as chancellor, he replies it is "inconceivable" he would be ousted from his post as he forewent a shot at being leader.

"They are likely to be of an order we haven't seen in a British administration in a long time," he adds.

He describes Mr Sunak as having an "imperially good economic pedigree".

"In Rishi Sunak overseeing Jeremy Hunt as the chancellor I have utter confidence that it will be looked at with the degree of serious required," he says.

And on allegations his multi-millionaire status makes him unrelatable, Mr Blunt adds: "Anyone who looks at Rishi Sunak and the kind of person he is will know that he can easily relate to people – and understand people’s problems."

The UK has missed a deadline set by Boris Johnson to sign a free trade deal with India, prompting questions over the future of the negotiations under Rishi Sunak.

Earlier this month, Downing Street insisted there was no rush for Britain to finalise an agreement amid reports that talks with the government of Narendra Modi were close to collapse.

At the time, the Department for International Trade (DIT) said negotiations were continuing despite claims that anger in New Delhi over remarks by then home secretary Suella Braverman criticising Indian migrants had put hopes of an agreement in jeopardy.

When Mr Johnson visited India in April, the two countries set a deadline of Diwali on Monday to conclude a deal, with reports that Mr Modi could travel to the UK to mark the occasion. But no announcement has been made, despite outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss committing to the same deadline.

The DIT had sought to play down suggestions of a breakdown in negotiations, with a spokesman saying the government would only sign when the terms were right.

As the latest Conservative leadership handover takes place, attention will turn to how Mr Sunak may approach the subject, particularly given his links to the country.

The 42-year-old is the first British Asian and Hindu to become prime minister in the UK. His wife is the daughter of India's sixth richest man, and his parents are of Punjabi descent.

During the last leadership election where Mr Sunak lost out to Ms Truss, the former chancellor said he wanted to be "pragmatic" in his approach to immigration and make sure his policies support economic growth.

Although he said little about his views on the use of work visas while the UK continues to face a labour shortage, these comments suggest a more liberal attitude than favoured by the likes of Ms Braverman.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has tweeted his congratulations for his new boss Rishi Sunak.

Mr Hunt is expected to remain in his job despite the change of leadership - while other key cabinet roles are likely to be reshuffled by the new PM.

By Sanya Burgess, digital investigations journalist

Perhaps unusually for a politician, conversations happening on social media about the new prime minister Rishi Sunak are more positive than negative, according to Talkwalker data.

The social listening platform uses AI tech to analyse whether the sentiment of social media posts are positive or negative

Their data shows that from around 2pm today (roughly around when it was announced he would become PM), Mr Sunak has had more positive posts on Twitter, TikTok and YouTubethan negative ones - giving him a sentiment rating of 51.5% by 5pm (on a scale of -100 to +100%).

This is a marked increase in positive comments compared to social media mentions of #RishiSunak over the past day, with 5pm yesterday giving him an -81.8 rating, meaning the lion's share of posts about him were negative.

The data is gathered from all social accounts on the three platforms and is not limited to those who have set their account's location as the UK. This means some of the positivity around Mr Sunak's may be coming from outside the UK.

Talkwalker says the data generated by its AI tool has a roughly 10% margin of error to allow for language quirks such as sarcasm.

Just seven weeks ago, Rishi Sunak was licking his wounds after losing the Tory leadership race to Liz Truss.

Now, he has been chosen by Conservative MPs to run the party and is set to become the youngest prime minister of the modern era.

The title of youngest prime minister ever belongs to William Pitt the Younger, who was just 24 when he took office in 1783.

As Mr Sunak prepares for his tenure in Number 10 as the third PM of 2022, let's look back at how he made it to the top job.

Read more from our politics reporters in the link below...

We've just had expected timings for tomorrow.

They will mean Rishi Sunak is likely to be in post as prime minister before midday.

9am: Liz Truss to chair cabinet meeting.

10.15am: Outgoing PM will make a statement in Downing Street

She will then travel to Buckingham Palace for an audience with King Charles.

Rishi Sunak will follow her by having his audience with the King.

11.35am: The new PM will make a statement in Downing Street.

To note, it is possible that these timings could change.

The British government will commission abortion services for women and girls in Northern Ireland, it was confirmed today.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he will ensure that abortion services are available in the region.

Abortion legislation in Northern Ireland was liberalised in 2019 following laws passed by Westminster at a time when the powersharing government at Stormont had collapsed.

While individual health trusts offer services on an ad-hoc basis, the Department of Health has yet to centrally commission the services due to a political impasse at Stormont on the issue.

Mr Heaton-Harris said he is under a statutory obligation to ensure that safe abortion services are available, adding there has been "continued inaction".

In a statement, he said the government has been forced to act as the Northern Ireland Department of Health has not ensured the availability of services and "have shown no indications that they will act to provide them".

"It is unfortunate that we have been forced to commission these services, in what should be a matter for the Department of Health to implement," he said.

A new YouGov poll suggests Sir Keir Starmer is currently winning the contest of 'who would be the best prime minister'.

In their latest survey of 12,000 people, 389 constituencies thought the Labour leader was the better choice for the top job, to Rishi Sunak's 127.

In total, 38% said Sir Keir would make the best leader, 29% thought Mr Sunak would do a better job, while 32% were not sure.

Despite his victory today, the poll makes worrying viewing for Mr Sunak and his team.

But it also suggests a general apathy towards either candidate.

Almost two-thirds of voters want a general election before the end of the year, a poll has found.

Some 62% of people told polling company Ipsos that they wanted to see a general election held in 2022, once Rishi Sunak is in Number 10.

The proportion of the public calling for a general election has increased since Liz Truss announced her resignation on 20 October.

At the beginning of August, 51% of people told Ipsos they would back a general election. The latest figures came from a survey of 1,000 adults between 20 and 21 October.

Downing Street has until January 2025 to hold an election, and Mr Sunak ruled out an early poll in his first speech to Conservative MPs on Monday.

Simon Hoare, a senior MP who supported Mr Sunak, told reporters: "He is actually going to hit the ground running. We have no time to lose.

"Certainly, he said that there will be no early general election."

Opposition parties have been calling for a general election since Ms Truss's resignation, claiming her successor has "no mandate".

The latest YouGov poll put Rishi Sunak above his beaten rivals Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson.

But Mr Sunak's net favourability of -28 still trails behind Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who with the same group of voters is only at -12, writes political reporter Jennifer Scott.

In fact, another poll released yesterday by Redfield and Wilton Strategies showed it would be a much closer contest between Sir Keir and Mr Johnson.

Asked who would be the better prime minister, 42% favoured the Labour leader compared to 39% for former prime minister Mr Johnson.

The gap widened between Sir Keir and Mr Sunak - 44% to 33% - and widened further still between him and Ms Mordaunt - 49% to 22%.

The new Tory chief took a stronger lead over the Labour leader when it was just 2019 Conservative voters surveyed, with 58% saying he'd make a better prime minister to Sir Keir's 25%.

Numerous polls taken during the chaos of the last few weeks have put Labour on eye-watering leads over the Conservatives, with the highest claiming they were 36 points ahead - unheard of since the days of Tony Blair.

So some Tories are understandably worried about the steep hill the party has to climb to win back voters before the next election comes around.