Our new PM has certainly risen to the occasion…
Our new prime minister has already demonstrated his strong commitment to growth even before he has officially been appointed to the position.
Rishi Sunak is set to begin his premiership later today after meeting with King Charles III.
He took over as leader of the Conservative Party by default yesterday after he was the only candidate still in the running to achieve 100 nominations from MPs, while opponent Penny Mordaunt was forced to drop out.
At the age of 42, Mr Sunak has become not only Britain’s youngest leader in more than 200 years, but also the country’s first non-white and Hindu prime minister on a day which happened to coincide with religious festival Diwali.
But while the Richmond, Yorkshire, MP celebrated outside Tory HQ in London yesterday it seemed his ego boost actually added several inches to his 5ft 6in height – either that, or some strange optical illusion was happening.
As video footage showed him thanking his supporters and waving at cameras yesterday, it was as if Mr Sunak had suddenly ‘levitated’, or really stepped up.
Of course, people on Twitter were quick to point this out and said Mr Sunak looked as it he’d ‘stepped on a mushroom’, in reference to Super Mario Bros. video games.
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Others joked he had ‘risen to the challenge’ of being PM and was ‘levelling up’ – a Government programme aimed at boosting opportunities and living standards across the UK.
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Many were fascinated by the optical illusion, with one social media user saying: ‘All joking aside, the more you watch that, the more bizarre it seems! He doesn’t appear to step up onto anything, or anyone lift him, serious, how did that happen?’
Some suggested he had walked backwards onto some steps which could have caused the odd movement.
One person joked: ‘I’d like to think he has two crawling paupers next to him, who lift him when they realise he’s in a crowd. May be why the guy to his left looks down at the same time.’
Someone claimed Mr Sunak is ‘actually an android’ after his robotic-sounding speech accepting the leadership yesterday.
In a speech to the nation yesterday, he said he was ‘humbled and honoured’ to be become leader, saying it was ‘the greatest privilege of my life to give back to the country I owe so much to’.
But many watching were not impressed, dubbing him ‘Robot Rishi’ or the ‘Rishbot’.
‘I don’t want to alarm anyone but I think Rishi Sunak has been replaced by a robot,’ one tweet among hundreds read.
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He has certainly risen to the occasion.