Indian-origin former finance minister Rishi Sunak is likely to be declared UK Prime Minister by Monday evening. He was likely to face two party leaders for the top post, his former boss Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt. However, Johnson in a surprise move pulled out of the race leaving only two candidates – Sunak and Mordaunt – in the fray.
So far, Sunak is leading the race with 144 of 357 MPs of the Conservative Party backing him, while Mordaunt has just 23 leaders publicly on her side. Johnson had the public support of around 59 Tory MPs.
Now, that Johnson is out of the race, the MPs backing him will now choose one of the two candidates. This time, the party has set a threshold of 100 MPs for a candidate to stand in the election. If Mordaunt manages to win 100 MPs by today evening, there will be a contest for 10 Downing Street – the official residence of the UK Prime Minister – and the leader will be elected by next Friday, 28 October.
But if Tory MPs unite behind Sunak, he will be declared the Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister by today evening. This is the first time he has gotten this close to victory after he lost the first round to Liz Truss. Even in that race, Sunak was the clear frontrunner with the highest number of MPs backing him.
After Liz Truss’ disastrous economic interventions, Sunak has emerged as the obvious choice for leaders looking for stability and economic revival amid decades-high inflation wrecking the country. On Sunday, the former chancellor of the exchequer said he wants to fix the economy which is why he is standing to become the UK Prime Minister.
Sunak has served as finance minister under former PM Johnson, who was forced to resign in July and left the office in September. Johnson was seen to be another candidate looking for a comeback. However, he on Sunday pulled out of the contest and said he had 102 nominations, but came to the conclusion that this was simply not the right time.
“I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds,” Johnson said. “I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.” “And though I have reached out to both Rishi and Penny — because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest — we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this,” he added.
