Conservative party UK PM Rishi Sunak calls surprise July election, faces removal

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Wednesday a surprise July election, as his ruling Conservative Party seeks to retain its 14-year hold on power in the face of poor polling against the opposition Labour Party.

The vote will be held on July 4, Sunak said during a speech outside No. 10 Downing Street, his office and official residence. Sunak, 44, was bound under British electoral law to call an election before January next year.

His center-right Conservatives have held power since 2010, but his party's main electoral threat, the center-left Labour Party, has surged in polls in recent months as the British public has expressed deep frustration over a stagnant economy, overburdened welfare services and worn-out public infrastructure.

The Labour Party under its leader Keir Starmer holds double-digit leads in surveys.

Conservative Party faces ouster from Keir Starmer's Labour Party

In his speech, Sunak nevertheless sought to paint a bright picture of his achievements in office, saying that over the last several years Britain had experienced some of its most challenging times since World War II.

"For many of us it is easy to forget the scale of what we have been through," Sunak said, a reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine, which he said had an impact on energy bills.

Some of his ideas, for example about immigration, have proved controversial.

Sunak recently pushed through Parliament a plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, capping a fight that critics blasted as an expensive, inhumane and impractical way to deal with immigration.

'Nothing will stand in our way': Britain approves contentious Rwanda asylum seekers plan

Britain elects a party, not a specific leader, and Sunak ascended to the prime minister role in the wake of a chaotic period in British political life. It saw the flamboyant Boris Johnson, who pushed through Britain's departure from the European Union, step down after he ignored his own coronavirus lockdown rules.

Johnson's replacement, Liz Truss, was ousted after just 49 days in office after scaring global markets with a radical tax-cutting plan at a time of high inflation. Sunak has been in office since October 2022.

Starmer, 61, a former prosecutor, said in a news conference Wednesday his party would bring much needed to change and prosperity to Britain. Starmer pledged to "return Britain to the service of working people."

"We will stop the chaos," he said.

Sunak arrived in his job with a lot of firsts: the first person of color to be a British prime minister, first of South Asian descent and first practicing Hindu. He was also the youngest U.K. prime minister of modern times.

And perhaps also the wealthiest.

Sunak's wife, tech heiress Akshata Murty, is the daughter of the founder of Infosys, an Indian tech firm. The couple have an estimated wealth of almost $1 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rishi Sunak calls July 4 election in UK