WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden on Monday called the expected naming of Mr Rishi Sunak as Britain’s next prime minister and first person of colour to hold the job “a groundbreaking milestone”.

Mr Biden, speaking at a White House event to mark the Indian holiday of Diwali, said Mr Sunak, who is also of Indian descent, was expected to be named prime minister on Tuesday after seeing King Charles.

Mr Sunak, a 42-year-old multimillionaire former hedge fund boss, won the race to lead the Conservative Party on Monday and will become the country’s youngest leader in modern times - and its third in less than two months.

His family migrated to Britain from India in the 1960s, a period when many people from Britain’s former colonies moved to Britain to help it rebuild after World War Two.

“We’ve got news that Rishi Sunak is now the prime minister,” Mr Biden said. “He’s expected to become the prime minister, I think, tomorrow when he goes to see the King. Pretty astounding. A groundbreaking milestone and it matters.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden would call Mr Sunak in the coming days, noting that it was protocol for the US president to wait to offer his congratulations until after an incoming British prime minister has met with the monarch and been formally invited to form a new government. REUTERS