Rishi Sunak – live: Penny Mordaunt scrambles for support as most Tory MPs back rival

The Independent’s nearly 400,000-strong campaign for a general election is on the the front page of its daily edition tomorrow.

You can read more details here:

Rishi Sunak will become the UK’s third prime minister in just seven weeks in a remarkable comeback, but left the public in the dark about his rescue plan for the economic crisis he inherits, reports our deputy political editor Rob Merrick.

After seeing off the challenge of Penny Mordaunt, the former chancellor – who made no speeches during the campaign – promised to lead with “integrity and humility”, but spoke for just 83 seconds and took no questions.

Speculation is mounting over who Rishi Sunak will choose for his Cabinet.

Sky’s Beth Rigby reports claims that Jeremy Hunt expected to remain as chancellor but that no decisions have been made.

Pippa Crerar of The Guardian, meanwhile, reports on suggestions that Dominic Raab – whose “Bill of Rights” aimed at allowing UK judges to overrule the European Convention on Human Rights was shelved by Liz Truss – could become home secretary.

A majority of voters want Rishi Sunak to call an early general election, new YouGov polling suggests.

In a survey of 2,398 people, 38 per cent said they were pleased he will take on the top job, while 41 per cent said they were disappointed.

A majority, 56 per cent, wanted Mr Sunak to call an early general election – compared with 29 per cent who did not.

Some 55 per cent of respondents thought it was better that Mr Sunak was chosen as a single candidate and a vote among Tory members was avoided – contrasting with just 19 per cent who would have preferred a members vote between Mr Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson.

As The Independent’s petition calling for a general election approaches 400,000 signatures, Tory former health secretary Sajid Javid has argued against a fresh nationwide vote.

“We live in a parliamentary democracy, we don’t have a presidential system,” he told ITV’s Peston. “The Conservative Party is the Party that won a majority and that majority still holds.

“And Rishi Sunak we shall see very soon when he becomes prime minister commands the majority in Parliament and that’s how our system works.

“I hear what you say about this is the third prime minister in a parliamentary term but, you know, prime ministers have changed in the past. When Gordon Brown became prime minister I don’t remember a single Labour MP then calling for a general election.”

Some 62 per cent of people recently polled by Ipsos said they wanted to see a general election held this year once Rishi Sunak has taken office.

Former chancellor Sajid Javid has said he hopes Rishi Sunak’s new government can “find a way” to uprate benefits in line with inflation.

“I would like to see if we could find a way to increase benefits by inflation but what I will say is that trade-offs are involved, I don’t have all that detail and what those trade-offs are, so I will listen carefully to what the chancellor has to say,” Mr Javid told ITV.

Asked whether he had any expectations or hopes of a senior role, Mr Javid told Robert Peston that he was “very happy to be on the backbenches” and “will support Rishi Sunak in delivering for this country in whatever role I’m in”.

The government has been told that awarding multimillion pound government contracts to the Japanese firm at the heart of the Post Office’s IT scandal is “morally wrong”, reports Nick Lester.

Critics in the House of Lords argued it was “appalling” Fujitsu continued to secure lucrative work, including a £48m deal to upgrade the police national computer (PNC), despite its role in what has been branded the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

However, ministers argued there was “basically no alternative”.

The financial markets have welcomed the news that Rishi Sunak will become the new prime minister – but business leaders urged him to end recent “political and economic uncertainty”.

British Chambers of Commerce director general Shevaun Haviland said: “The political and economic uncertainty of the past few months has been hugely damaging to British business confidence and must now come to an end.

“The new prime minister must be a steady hand on the tiller to see the economy through the challenging conditions ahead.”

My colleague Lamit Sabin has the full report:

Dozens of climate and energy crisis activists have occupied the central lobby in the Houses of Parliament hours after Rishi Sunak was named the prime minister-in-waiting.

Activists from Greenpeace and Fuel Poverty Action caused live interviews with MPs to be shut down and unfurled a banner reading: “Chaos costs lives.”

Our environment correspondent Harry Cockburn reports:

US president Joe Biden “looks forward” to speaking with Rishi Sunak in the coming days, the White House press secretary has said.

Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “With respect to the news from the United Kingdom today, as you all know, it’s protocol for the president to wait until after an incoming British prime minister has met with the monarch and been invited to form a new government to offer his congratulations.

“But President Biden looks forward to speaking with Prime Minister Sunak in the upcoming days and to our continued close cooperation with United Kingdom.”