Rishi Sunak will not be going up against Boris Johnson with the former British prime minister confirming he will not contest the Conservative party leadership. Source: Number 10, Flickr.
Boris Johnson has ruled out a comeback, and Rishi Sunak is favoured for Britain’s next prime minister after Liz Truss’s short-lived tenure.
The former finance minister who came second in the race against Liz Truss, has the backing of almost half of MPs. Penny Mordaunt has just 30 public backers by Sunday night which is 70 short of the number required to be on the ballot.
Upon launching his official campaign, Sunak declared that “fixing the economy” would be his priority.
He will not be going up against Boris Johnson with the former British prime minister confirming he will not contest the Conservative party leadership.
Johnson said he believes he would be well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 but it would “simply not be the right thing to do”.
“There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members – and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday”, he said in a statement.
“But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.”
Johnson had gained the support of seven cabinet ministers but added only eight public backers over the weekend. Prominent Conservatives warned it would be disastrous for the party if members opted for Johnson once again.
Sunak did not give any media interviews or formal manifesto upon his campaign launch, with Labour criticising him for not speaking about how his government would run.
“The Tories are about to hand the keys of the country to Rishi Sunak without him saying a single word about how he would govern,” said deputy leader Angela Rayner.
“No one voted for this. Perhaps it’s not surprising he’s avoiding scrutiny: after all, he was so bad that just a few weeks ago, he was trounced by Liz Truss.”
If Penny Mordaunt does not reach 100 nominations, Rishi Sunak will win by acclamation. Should both of them make the ballot, 357 Conservatives will vote on their preference on Monday before the choice goes to the 172,000 party members across the country.
