LOCAL MP Rebecca Pow this afternoon chose not to share with the Wellington Weekly her thoughts on new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Despite a request early this morning for a statement as soon as possible after the announcement, nothing had been received by the newspaper nearly three hours after the backbenchers’ 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady announced that Mr Sunak had been the only eligible candidate in the Conservative leadership ballot.

Mr Sunak was declared the successor to Liz Truss, who resigned as Prime Minister last week, 45 days after winning a leadership contest in the summer caused by Boris Johnson’s resignation.

However, Ms Pow did have time to Tweet a comment about the announcement, saying: “Proud to be supporting @RishiSunak today, as I did in the summer.

“He has all it takes to bring this great nation together, to tackle challenges, and to enable us to come out stronger, including on food security and the environment.”