Who is the youngest UK prime minister? How old is Rishi Sunak - age David Cameron and Tony Blair became PM

Rishi Sunak will become the UK’s next prime minister (PM) after winning the Tory leadership race against fellow Conservative MP Penny Mourdant. The former chancellor will succeed Liz Truss, just seven weeks after she defeated him.

Sunak will face a challenging start to his term as PM, with the UK currently in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, record high levels of inflation and soaring interest rates.

Sunak will make history as the first non-white UK prime minister and also be the youngest in over a century. So how old is Rishi Sunak and who is the youngest UK prime minister? Here’s everything you need to know.

How old is Rishi Sunak?

Sunak is 42-years-old, making him the youngest prime minister to take office in over a century. The last time a PM came to power at 42-years-old was Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, in 1812.

Who is the youngest UK prime minister?

Sunak is not be the youngest PM in the UK, this title goes to, as his name suggests, William Pitt the Younger, who was famous for becoming PM when he was just 24-years-old in 1783.

What age did David Cameroon become UK prime minister?

David Cameron was 43-years-old when he became PM in 2010. Cameroon came to power after defeating Labour’s Gordon Brown and ruled under a coalition government with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

He held the role of PM for six years, winning a Conservative majority in the general election in 2015. Cameron eventually stepped down in 2016 following losing the remain campaign in the European Union referendum.

What age did Tony Blair become UK prime minister?

Labour’s Tony Blair was also 43-years-old when he became PM in 1997. Blair came to power defeating Conservative PM John Major. He would go on to become Labour’s most successful leader winning three elections in total - 1997, 2001 and 2005.

During his tenure he oversaw the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, but is most known for his relationship with former US President George Bush and for the War in Iraq. Blair eventually resigned from his position in 2007 over claims he mislead the UK Parliament.

How many MPs backed Rishi Sunak to be UK prime minister?

Sunak is set to become the next prime minister of the UK after winning the Conservative leadership race against fellow MP Penny Mourdant. Sunak will succeed Liz Truss just seven weeks after she defeated him in the previous Tory contest which was held over the summer.

The former chancellor gained backing from half of all Tory MPs, with some switching their allegiance to him after former prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed he was not running.

Of the 219 out of 357 Tory MPs to go public with their views on who the next leader of the Tory party should be, 1 for one of the candidates in the leadership race:

Rishi Sunak - 193 MPs

Penny Mordaunt - 26 MPs

He will be the third person to hold the job since the last general election in 2019, following the resignation of Johnson and Truss. The last time the UK had three different prime ministers during one stint in parliament was in 1940, when Winston Churchill took the role following Stanley Baldwin, and Neville Chamberlain.

Sunak will make history as the UK’s first non-white PM, but also because of his age, which makes him the youngest person to hold the job in over a century.