London, England – After Boris Johnson abruptly dropped out of the race for Conservative Party leader, Britain’s former finance minister Rishi Sunak has surfaced as the front-runner to be the nation’s next prime minister.
Liz Truss, the current prime minister, resigned last week after only six devastating weeks in office. Graham Brady, the Conservative official in charge of the leadership election, predicted that a new prime minister will be chosen by Friday.
Candidates for Truss’ replacement have until 2 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) on Monday to secure the backing of 100 Conservative Party lawmakers in order to become the party’s as well as the country’s leader.
Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, is now competing against Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt following Boris Johnson’s withdrawal from the race.
If both candidates receive the support of 100 MPs, it will be up to the Conservative Party’s 172,000 members to choose the new leader via internet voting.
Sunak was the only one the pair to have reached the required 100 nominations as of Monday morning.
Sunak will instantaneously become the Conservative Party’s new leader if he stays the only candidate with this number of supporters. The party’s majority in parliament ensures that he will be the country’s next prime minister as well.
Sunak formally declared his intention to compete in the challenge on Sunday, writing on Twitter: “The United Kingdom is a great nation, but we face a deep economic crisis.”
That is why I am vying to be Leader of the Conservative Party as well as your next Prime Minister. I want to rectify our economy, unite our Party and as well as deliver for our country.
“At every level of government I lead, there will be integrity, professionalism, as well as accountability, and I will strive day in and out to accomplish the job.”
Many Johnson backers blame Sunak for helping to depose Johnson in July after a number of scandals, however on Sunday evening he gave credit to the former PM after he dropped out of the race.
“Boris Johnson delivered Brexit as well as the massive vaccine roll-out.” He led our country through some of the difficult challenges it has ever faced, before taking on Putin as well as his barbaric war in Ukraine. “We will be eternally grateful to him for that,” Sunak wrote on Twitter. “However, he has opted not to run for Prime Minister.”
Johnson in his press release announced his withdrawal from the race and claimed that he had secured the nominations of 102 MPs, despite the fact that the number of lawmakers who had publicly declared their support for him was significantly lower.
And he lashed out at Sunak and Truss after having failed to persuade them to back his comeback. “There is an extremely good chance that I will win the vote with Conservative Party members as well as that I will be back in Downing Street on Friday,” Johnson said. “However, in the last few days, I’ve come to the sad realization that this would purely not be the correct thing to do.” You can’t govern effectively unless your party in parliament is united.”
“And, while I approached both Rishi (Sunak) and Penny (Mordaunt) in the hope that we could work together in the national interest,” he added, “we have unfortunately not been able to come up with a way of doing this.” “As a result, I’m absolutely terrified the best thing I can do is withdraw my nomination and endorse to whoever wins.” I believe I have much to offer, but this is simply not the ideal time.”
On Friday, Mordaunt became the first to declare her candidacy. She promised a “new beginning” for the United Kingdom, pledging to “unite our country, deliver on our promises, and win the next leadership race.” She is also using a catchy hashtag:”PM4PM”.
She, too, commended Johnson for withdrawing from the race, saying he “put the country before party, as well as party before self.” “He worked hard to secure the mandate as well as majority we now have.” “We must put this to good use, and I recognise he will collaborate with us,” she said on Twitter.
Mordaunt finished third in the previous leadership election, barely avoiding being put well before members. With 105 MP votes in the previous election, she is anticipated to clear the new threshold and perform well within the party membership, thanks in part to her military credentials. Mordaunt is a Royal Navy reserve officer who previously served as Secretary of State.
When the Conservatives held a leadership contest after Johnson’s government fell apart, Truss won, Sunak came in second, and Mordaunt came in third. Johnson chose not to run.
On Sunday, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, revived his calls for a general election, claiming that the Conservative leadership as well as the consequences of their government’s decisions had people “fed up to the back teeth.”
“A decision must be made. A general election is required! Let the people decide… Do they want this utter chaos to continue, or do they want reliability under a Labour government?” During a BBC interview, Starmer inquired.
