The one word voters use to describe Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak won the race to become Britain's third prime minister in less than four months on Monday after rival Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the contest.

Sunak will take control of a nation facing a series of crises, with inflation soaring and the economy edging towards recession.

In his first public address after winning the Tory leadership contest, the incoming PM promised to deliver "stability and unity".

However a poll by political researchers Savanta ComRes found the public associate Sunak with a different attribute – his vast wealth.

When people were asked what word or phrase first came to mind when they think about the new PM, 'rich' was the most common choice.

Other words included 'liar', 'corrupt', 'slimy' and 'snake'.

More positive suggestions were 'good', 'clever' and 'capable', but negative labels of 'untrustworthy', 'greedy' and 'selfish' featured prominently.

In May, Sunak became the first frontline politician to be named in The Sunday Times Rich List since its inception.

He and his wife Akshata Murty entered the list for the first time with their joint £730m fortune.

Sunak won the race to become PM by default after Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the Conservative Party leadership contest having failed to gain the backing of enough MPs to stand against him.

Watch: Who is Rishi Sunak, Britain's new prime minister?

His other challenger, Boris Johnson, announced he would not be standing on Sunday, despite claiming he had the support of 102 MPs.

Despite being the 'least unpopular' candidate in the running according to a recent YouGov poll, Sunak's public persona still wouldn't win him an election if a vote were to take place tomorrow.

The YouGov research showed that in comparison to his Tory adversaries, Keir Starmer’s rating among voters was substantially better.

"While Sunak leads his immediate leadership rivals, and his own party, he trails those he would face at a general election," the researchers said.

Labour was quick to criticise the new PM on Monday after he refused media interviews to lay out how he would tackle the cost-of-living crisis and the economic turmoil that has engulfed markets in recent weeks.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "The Tories have crowned Rishi Sunak without him saying a word about what he would do as PM. He has no mandate, no answers and no ideas. Nobody voted for this.

"The public deserve their say on Britain’s future through a General Election. It’s time for a fresh start with Labour."

On Friday a poll by People Polling for GB News found that when people were asked what word or phrase first came to mind when they think about the Conservative government, 'shambles' was the most common choice.

Others that emerged included 'useless' and 'incompetent', followed by 'rubbish' and 'chaos'.

Those were just a few, with other words including: 'corrupt', 'liars', 'idiot' 'rich' and even swear words like 'cr*p' and 'sh*t', along with 'inept', 'pathetic' and 'trustworthy'.