LONDON

As former finance minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday settles in as the UK’s third prime minister in just three-and-a-half months, British tabloids are mocking the country’s unprecedented political whirlwind.

The Daily Star splashed an imaginative calendar of prime ministers for 2022 on its front page showing Sunak as the premier for October.

Under the headline “Daily Star's Tory PM 2022 calendar has Rishi as Mr October - but can he last a month?” the tabloid asked whether Sunak can “outlast his predecessors” as the UK’s fifth prime minister in just over six years.

The Mirror’s front page highlighted Sunak becoming prime minister without a general election, as Conservative Party lawmakers voted him in as party leader and thus premier, unlike party leaders who stood against other parties during a nationwide vote.

“Who voted for you?” trumpeted the tabloid, branding Sunak an “unelected” prime minister.

Sunak, a former chancellor of the exchequer, was voted in the UK’s first British Asian prime minister on Monday as the new Tory leader after Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the race at the last minute.

Sunak on Tuesday will be formally asked to form a new government by King Charles.

He is the fifth prime minister since the pivotal 2016 Brexit referendum. His predecessors David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss all resigned from the top post, the last after only 44 days in office.