MPs’ praise for new Prime Minister

Mr Sunak was officially installed in No10 Downing Street on Tuesday after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the race.

Despite having a lot of support from the party which kicked him out not too long ago, Mr Johnson said it “would simply not be the right thing to do”.

Ms Mordaunt dropped out with two minutes to spare before Monday’s deadline when it was clear she was not coming close to reaching the required 100 MPs supporting her.

Up until then, Borders MP John Lamont was one of her top supporters, flooding his Twitter feed with praise, saying she was the one person who would unite the party and the country, and that “People deserve a leader that understands the life they lead”.

However, he soon got behind Mr Sunak after he was declared the latest winner of the Tory leader roundabout, saying on his Twitter platform, still tagged @John2Win: “He will be an incredible leader,” and “Rishi Sunak is the man to tackle the economic crisis. He has the experience to restore economic stability and get the cost-of-living crisis under control.

"We are now a united party that is ready to unite the country behind the leadership of @RishiSunak.”

Mr Lamont’s fellow Borders MP, David Mundell, didn’t say who he was supporting before the new leader’s appointment, only saying that he would not be endorsing Mr Johnson.

However, once the result was known, Mr Mundell added his congratulations to Mr Sunak, saying: "I think it’s the best way forward for the country, for our party and for our democracy, actually, that we are going to be able to bring calm and stability to what’s been a very difficult situation.

"I think Rishi Sunak has demonstrated, not just in the previous leadership contest, but over the last few weeks, that he has the attributes to be Prime Minister.

"I think he will clearly focus on the economy.”

Neither of the local representatives were named in Mr Sunak's new cabinet.