London: Rishi Sunak held an early advantage in the latest race for the Conservative Party leadership, with the former chancellor securing the backing of at least 100 Tory MPs and ensuring he’ll proceed to the ballot of party members next week if he publicly declares his candidacy.
Cabinet member Penny Mordaunt became the first to formally declare her candidacy, after the UK’s ruling party was forced into a second leadership contest following the dramatic resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss.
“Honoured to be the 100th Tory MP to support #Ready4Rishi,” senior backbencher Tobias Ellwood tweeted, as other backers of Sunak also said he had crossed the barrier.
Sunak will automatically become party leader and prime minister if his opponents fail also to win 100 nominations from their fellow Tory MPs.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat, who ran for leader himself after Johnson was toppled in July, issued a thinly veiled appeal to the scandal-tainted ex-leader to stay out of the race.
“This is no time for political games, for settling scores, or for looking backwards,” Tugendhat said as he also endorsed Sunak late Friday.
Neither Sunak nor Johnson has publicly declared they are running.
But Johnson cut short a Caribbean holiday to take part in the accelerated contest, which will see Tory MPs hold a vote on Monday before a possible online ballot for party members next week.
James Duddridge, one of Johnson’s closest allies in parliament, said he had been in contact with his old boss via WhatsApp.
According to a poll by Opinium, UK voters would prefer Sunak and Mordaunt over Johnson as the next PM. When asked to choose between Sunak or Johnson, 44% chose Sunak, and 31% chose his former boss, research conducted by Opinium on Thursday night found.
Comments are closed.