Rishi Sunak has emerged as one of the favorites to become the Prime Minister of U.K. after Boris Johnson pulled out of the contest.
Rishi Sunak has emerged as one of the favourites to become the Prime Minister of United Kingdom (U.K.) after Boris Johnson pulled out of the contest.
This follows the announcement by Prime Minister of U.K. – Liz Truss to resign. Serving only 6 weeks in power, Truss became the shortest serving Prime Minister after she announced her intention to resign on October 20, 2022.
With the endorsement of nearly 150 conservative MPs, Sunak has no competition. Any candidate who wants to be the Prime Minister of U.K. must receive at least 100 nominations from the party’s MPs by 2 p.m. local time Monday, i.e., October 24, 2022. If only one candidate meets that threshold, he/she will automatically become leader. Otherwise, the remaining candidates will be put to an online vote by Conservative Party members which will close on Friday, October 28, 2022.
The only other challenger is Penny Mordaunt, who has a backing of less than 30 MPs. Johnson had returned from home from a holiday in the Caribbean to try and secure the backing of 100 legislators to enter the contest to replace Truss.
He said late on Sunday that he had secured the backing of 102 legislators and could have been back in Downing Street, but then he failed to persuade either Sunak or the other contender Mordaunt, to come together in the national interest.
Speaking on the occasion, Johnson said, “I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”
Taking it to twitter, Sunak said,
1/ Boris Johnson delivered Brexit and the great vaccine roll-out.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 23, 2022
He led our country through some of the toughest challenges we have ever faced, and then took on Putin and his barbaric war in Ukraine.
We will always be grateful to him for that.
He further tweeted,
2/ Although he has decided not to run for PM again, I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 23, 2022
Johnson has loomed large over UK politics ever since he became mayor of London in 2008 and went on to become the face of the Brexit vote in 2016. While he led the Conservative Party to a landslide election in 2019, he was forced out just 3e years later by a rebellion of his ministers.
Many of the Conservative legislators who normally back Johnson switched their support to Sunak, saying the country needed a period of stability after months of turmoil.
There are reports that some of the Johnson supporters could switch to Mordaunt, who has presented herself as the unity candidate. A source close to the Mordaunt campaign said she would continue in the contest. She is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the Conservative Party together.
It is to be noted that all the 3 former Prime Ministers, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May were brought down by their own people within their party.
Sunak would be the first Prime Minister of Indian origin in the U.K. His family migrated to the U.K. in the 1960s, a period when many people from former British colonies arrived to help rebuild the country after the Second World War.
