Sunak Set To Take Over As PM From Truss Later This Morning

A series of formal procedures take place this morning ahead of incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak officially assuming office. Outgoing PM Liz Truss at 0900BST began her final Cabinet meeting, and at 1015BST will deliver her final address from 10 Downing Street. She will then travel to Buckingham Palace to meet with King Charles III to offer her resignation and recommend Sunak as the individual most able to form a majority gov't in the Commons.

• After this, Sunak will visit the King, where he will be invited to form a gov't. The newly-minted Sunak will then travel to Downing Street and deliver an address to the nation at around 1135BST (0635ET, 1235CET).
• Focus will then turn to the afternoon, where Sunak is expected to put together the senior members of his Cabinet. There is ongoing speculation about who could be included after Sunak promised to include members from all wings of the party in a speech to Conservative MPs yesterday afternoon.
• The two senior offices that are unlikely to change are the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Jeremy Hunt expected to remain in place (at least for the time being) to deliver the medium-term fiscal plan on 31 Oct, and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (although he has stated that a commitment from the new PM of defence spending rising to 3% of GDP is a non-negotiable policy if he is to stay in office).
• Any change to either of the above two offices could signal some uncertainty or early instability in the new gov't.