Sunak favourite in race to Downing Street as Johnson withdraws
Former British Treasury chief Rishi Sunak is the hot favourite in the Conservative Party’s race to replace Liz Truss as prime minister.
Conservative Party leadership candidate Rishi Sunak leaves his campaign office, in London. Photo: AP/Alberto Pezzali
Former prime minister Boris Johnson pulled out of the race this morning SA time, declaring it would “not be the right thing to do”.
“You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament,” Johnson said in a statement after flying back to London from the Dominican Republic where he was holidaying.
Sunak garnered the public support of over 100 Tory MPs to forge ahead of his last remaining rival, ex-Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt.
Widespread uncertainty had remained after British media reported that Sunak had held late-night talks with Johnson on Saturday.
Speculation mounted that the pair could strike a deal to unite the fractured governing party after it was left reeling from Truss’ rapid downfall following Johnson’s ouster.
The Conservative Party hastily ordered a contest that aims to finalise nominations on Monday and install a new prime minister — its third this year — within a week.
Sunak, 42, was runner-up after Truss in this summer’s Tory leadership race to replace Johnson after he was forced out by a string of ethics scandals. On Sunday, he confirmed he was running again in the latest leadership contest.
Sunak has the backing of at least 124 Conservative MPs, according to unofficial tallies compiled by British news organisations. That’s well ahead of the 100 nominations required to qualify.
“There will be integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level of the government I lead and I will work day in and day out to get the job done,” Sunak said in a statement.
Before his withdrawal from the ballot, Johnson had public support from about 50 lawmakers, while Mordaunt had support from about 23, according to the unofficial tallies.
The new leader is due to be selected by Friday.
Truss quit Thursday after a turbulent 45 days, conceding that she could not deliver on her botched tax-cutting economic package, which she was forced to abandon after it sparked fury within her party and weeks of turmoil in financial markets.
Sunak, who was Treasury chief from 2020 until this summer, steered Britain’s slumping economy through the coronavirus pandemic. He quit in July in protest of Johnson’s leadership.
In the summer contest to replace Johnson, Sunak called promises by Truss and other rivals to immediately slash taxes reckless “fairytales” and argued that climbing inflation must be controlled first.
Tory voters backed Truss over Sunak, but he was proven right when Truss’ unfunded tax-cutting package triggered chaos in the markets in September.
