RISHI Sunak has congratulated Liz Truss and called for the party to unite behind her as he lost out on becoming prime minister.

Truss won the contest by 81,326 votes to 60,399 and will take over as prime minister on Tuesday (September 6).

Mr Sunak, 42, was considered a front runner for prime minister when Boris Johnson resigned on July 7, just two days after Mr Sunak had resigned from his Cabinet position as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In the early voting stages, Mr Sunak had received the most votes in all the rounds, receiving 137 to Truss' 113 in the penultimate stage, which seemed to put him in pole position for when Tory members could then vote.

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Since then the likelihood of him winning appeared to slip away, especially after comments made in front of an audience in Tunbridge Wells in August 2022 in which he allegedly implied he changed funding formulas which took money away from "deprived urban areas".

In a tweet after the announcement, Mr Sunak said: "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."