LONDON — In a ceremony of pageantry, quirks and ancient tradition, King Charles III, Britain’s 62nd monarch, was on Saturday officially crowned head of state of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth realms.
The king, who succeeds his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was coronated at London’s Westminster Abbey alongside his wife Camilla in a two-hour ceremony attended by world leaders, members of the royal family, foreign dignitaries, faith leaders, and heads of state.
The historic event was overseen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and punctuated with rituals, regalia, and objects dating back centuries.
These included oaths, spurs, a Jewelled Sword of Offering, various sceptres and an orb. The king was anointed with holy oil via a coronation spoon, while the watching public were offered the chance to declare their loyalty by proclaiming: “God save King Charles.”
Among the 2,000 guests were French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte. First Lady Jill Biden, the wife of U.S. President Joe Biden, was also present, accompanied by her granddaughter, Finnegan. They wore blue and gold attire respectively, interpreted as support for Ukraine, whose flags share the same colors.
The U.S. president himself chose not to attend, but wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on their Coronation. The enduring friendship between the U.S. and the U.K. is a source of strength for both our peoples. I am proud the First Lady is representing the United States for this historic occasion.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sat beside President of the European Council Charles Michel, despite long-standing tensions between Brussels’ two most prominent politicians. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was also in the congregation.
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry was seen speaking briefly to former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, now president for global affairs at Meta. King Charles has been a life-long campaigner on the environment.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who gave a reading during the service, was joined by senior members of his Cabinet and as well as all his living predecessors, including Tony Blair, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss — the latter having served in Downing Street for just 49 days last year. Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, a member of Sunak’s Cabinet, took a leading role in the ceremony, carrying the sword of state due to her ceremonial role as lord president of the privy council.
Keir Starmer, leader of the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party, sat next to the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, while leaders of the devolved nations in the U.K. were also in attendance. Prince Harry was seated among members of the U.K. royal family, though his wife, Meghan Markle, remained in California with their children.
Also present were the presidents of Germany and Italy, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sergio Mattarella, China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, and the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif. Han’s attendance had been a subject of controversy in the U.K. due to his central role in China’s repression of Hong Kong.
There were also leaders from the 14 Commonwealth nations for whom Charles is head of state, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand’s Chris Hipkins, as well as representatives from Grenada, Papa New Guinea, the Bahamas and others.
Celebrities such as singer Katy Perry, chef Jamie Oliver, actor Emma Thompson, and British TV duo Ant and Dec also took seats in the Abbey.
Thousands of flag-carrying members of the public gathered along the procession route | Niklaas Halle’n/AFP via Getty Images
Britain is a constitutional monarchy, and as head of state King Charles has a ceremonial role in opening and dissolving parliament, appointing a government, and approving bills before they become law. He also meets weekly with Sunak, the prime minister.
However, the ability to make and pass legislation rests with politicians in an elected parliament.
Thousands of flag-carrying members of the public enjoyed another British tradition — light summer drizzle — as they gathered in the early hours along the procession route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. Before the coronation, the head of the U.K.’s leading republican movement, which held a protest in Trafalgar Square, was among those arrested by police.
Members of the royal family were gathered on the Buckingham Palace balcony later Saturday afternoon ahead of a series of celebratory events taking place Sunday, including a pop concert at Windsor Castle. Monday has been designated a public holiday in Britain to mark the occasion.
This article is being updated as the ceremonies continue.
LONDON — Rishi Sunak has promised to “fix” the economic mess wrought by his predecessor Liz Truss after being appointed the new U.K. prime minister.
In a sombre speech on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street Tuesday, Sunak — who has spent the day fleshing out a top team that includes many carryovers from the Truss administration — admitted “mistakes were made” by his predecessor and said he had been appointed “in part, to fix them.”
Truss only took office as U.K. PM last month, but was swiftly forced to resign after her radical economic plan spooked the markets, sent Sterling plunging and drove U.K. borrowing costs through the roof.
Sunak had predicted precisely these consequences during a summer-long Tory leadership contest — in which he finished a distant second place — and is now reaping the political reward.
“Our country is facing a profound economic crisis,” Sunak said, in his first major speech as PM. “I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come.”
Sunak takes over at an intensely challenging time for the U.K. economy, with surging energy costs, mortgage rates and inflation triggering a cost-of-living crisis for millions of households and businesses. Britain also has a yawning budget deficit, and Sunak’s administration is expected to confirm a package of tax hikes and spending cuts in an emergency budget statement next week.
Key picks
In a bid to calm markets, Sunak on Tuesday confirmed he is keeping Jeremy Hunt in post as top finance minister. Hunt was brought in in the dying days of Truss’ short premiership to steady the ship, and swiftly junked much of her tax-cutting agenda.
Key Sunak ally and Cabinet veteran Dominic Raab will serve as deputy prime minister, a role he also played for Johnson.
And Sunak looks to have opted for a steady-as-she-goes approach to foreign policy, keeping in place Truss’ Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, and her Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who also held the role under Boris Johnson and earned plaudits for his response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a remarkably swift Cabinet comeback, Suella Braverman — who left as Truss’ Home Secretary just a week ago with a blast at her boss — returns to the Home Office.
In one sign of change at the top of government, Truss ally Jacob Rees-Mogg resigned as business secretary. He had previously branded Sunak a “socialist” during the summer’s bitter leadership contest, although he recanted that view Tuesday morning. He will be replaced by leading Sunak backer Grant Shapps.
Speaking on steps of No. 10 Downing Street, the new PM insisted he was “not daunted” by the challenges ahead, adding: “I know the high office I have accepted, and I hope to live up to its demands.”
Sunak, 42, is the youngest British prime minister in modern history, and the first British-Asian to lead the country. He was formally invited to form a government by new British monarch King Charles III on Tuesday morning, having won the second Conservative leadership contest of the year the previous afternoon.
In his speech, Sunak also took a veiled swipe at his predecessor-but-one — and former boss — Johnson, who was forced to resign in July over a string of personal scandals.
“This government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level,” Sunak said.
Johnson tweeted his congratulations to his bitter rival immediately after Sunak took office, insisting it was “the moment for every Conservative to give our new PM their full and wholehearted support.”
Newly-elected British PM Rishi Sunak has been formally invited to form a government by King Charles III | Pool photo by Aaron Chown/AFP via Getty Images
Truss bids farewell
In her farewell speech Tuesday, outgoing PM Truss said it had been “a huge honor” to lead the nation and showed few signs of contrition over her chaotic seven weeks in office.
“From my time as prime minister, I am more convinced than ever we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face,” Truss said defiantly.
She even quoted the Roman philosopher Seneca, adding: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
Sunak won the latest Conservative leadership race after his rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure the required 100 nominations from her fellow Conservative MPs to make it onto a head-to-head ballot. He also beat off a brief challenge from former PM Johnson, who decided to pull out of the contest Sunday night despite claiming — without evidence — to have secured enough private nominations to make the cut.
Sunak has only been an MP since 2015 but is well known to the British public, having served as chancellor for more than two years under Johnson before quitting in July over his former boss’ personal conduct.
Sunak had become wildly popular with the general public soon after his appointment in February 2020, having set up a multi-billion pound scheme to protect people’s salaries if their companies were struggling to keep them on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But his approval ratings took a severe hit earlier this year after it emerged his wife Akshata Murty held a highly privileged “non-domiciled” tax status in Britain, which she later renounced. He was also criticized after it was revealed he until recently continued to hold a U.S. green card, allowing him to live and work in America — allowing opponents to suggest he might not have been fully committed to Britain.
LONDON — It took one bruising campaign defeat and six weeks of exile — but on Tuesday, Rishi Sunak will finally become U.K. prime minister.
He faces the toughest in-tray of any British leader since World War II, entering No. 10 Downing Street as the country hurtles into winter with energy bills, hospital waiting lists, borrowing costs and inflation all soaring.
The challenge has been magnified by Liz Truss’ brief crash-and-burn premiership. As a result of her now-infamous mini-budget, which was scrapped almost in its entirety after causing chaos in financial markets, the Conservatives are trailing the opposition Labour Party by over 30 percentage points in opinion polls.
On Monday, Sunak told MPs he was ready to hit the ground running as he addressed them for the first time since becoming Tory leader. Over the days and months ahead, he will need to carry out his first ministerial reshuffle without further fracturing his party; oversee the first budget since the last one wreaked havoc on the economy; and determine what support to offer voters with their energy bills past this spring.
Prime ministers tend to think of their first 100 days as a way to set the tone for their premierships. For Sunak, who has just over two years to govern before he is required to face a general election, that first impression is going to be particularly important.
October 25 — Meeting with the king and first speech outside No. 10 Downing Street
Sunak will become the prime minister Tuesday after an audience with King Charles III, where he will ask the monarch for permission to form a government.
Sunak will then address the country for the first time as prime minister from the steps outside No. 10 Downing Street at around 11.35 a.m.
To much of the British public, the former chancellor is a familiar face who announced the wildly-popular furlough scheme during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
His task now will be to reassure people that the government will support them during another difficult economic period — only this time he is in a much tougher position. The popularity he gained during the pandemic has waned, and he is taking over after a major government crisis — the third Tory prime minister to hold office within three months.
October 25 — First reshuffle
The first big political test for Sunak will be his Cabinet reshuffle. Tory MPs believe he will learn the lesson from Truss’ first and only one, where she divvied up roles between her allies and left almost everyone who didn’t back her out in the cold.
“I think his reshuffle will be more unifying, bringing in people from all wings and will not be as destabilizing as Liz’s,” an MP who did not back Sunak predicted.
Sunak’s leadership rival Penny Mordaunt is expected to be handed a major Cabinet position | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Sunak is likely to make at least his major Cabinet appointments Tuesday afternoon, so they are in place to line up alongside him on the House of Commons’ front bench when MPs grill him during so-called prime minister’s questions (PMQs) on Wednesday.
His biggest decision will be whether to keep Jeremy Hunt — who was drafted in by Truss in a last-ditch effort to save her premiership — as chancellor. He is also likely to hand a big job to his leadership rival Penny Mordaunt.
Close Sunak allies who are likely to get promotions include Mel Stride, the current chairman of the Treasury select committee, Craig Williams, Claire Coutinho and Laura Trott. Tory big beast Michael Gove could see a return to Cabinet.
October 26 — First PMQs
Sunak will go head-to-head as prime minister with Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, for the first time on Wednesday.
Unlike his predecessor, Sunak won’t have much to worry about from his own side — Tory MPs have largely rowed behind him since he became their leader on Monday, with many expressing relief that the perpetual state of crisis of the Truss government has ended.
But MPs will want him to demonstrate that he can land blows against Starmer at a time when Labour is streets ahead in the polls. Sunak told Tory MPs on Tuesday that their party faced an “existential threat” as a result of its low poll ratings.
October 28 — Deadline to form a government in Belfast
If a power-sharing arrangement is not in place at Stormont by Friday, a fresh set of elections to the Northern Irish assembly will have to be triggered.
Calling these elections — the second set in seven months — could be one of the Sunak government’s first acts and an indication of successive Tory prime ministers’ failure to deal with the political crisis in Northern Ireland.
The Democratic Unionist Party issued a fresh warning on Monday night that it would not participate in the assembly unless Sunak takes action on the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol agreed with the EU.
October 31 — First budget
The next budget was penciled in for October 31 by Kwasi Kwarteng, the Truss-era chancellor who wanted to use it to reassure financial markets still reeling from his last one.
The timing of the budget — widely derided by Tory MPs because of the optics of holding it on Halloween — was intended to give the Bank of England time to react before its own key meeting on November 3, where it will set interest rate levels for the weeks ahead.
In its biggest test so far, Sunak’s government will have to decide whether to stick with that date; what actions to take to reassure the markets; and how to fill the enormous hole in the U.K. public finances.
Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “If his chancellor is Jeremy Hunt and Sunak is comfortable with the way things are proceeding for next Monday, then going ahead has lots of advantages.
“You get the announcement out before the Bank of England makes its next inflation figure, and you get the Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecasts out there, which helps show the markets you are serious about them.
“The case for changing that date is much stronger if Sunak says, ‘Actually, I want to do something different to what Jeremy Hunt has been planning, and I need more time,’” Emmerson added.
November 3 — Bank of England rates meeting
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is expected to raise interest rates at its meeting on November 3, triggering a fresh hike in people’s mortgages.
This is the point when many people will realize for the first time that they will have to make much larger mortgage repayments once their current fixed-rate deals come to an end.
Sunak made combating inflation and keeping mortgages low a central theme of his leadership campaign over the summer. Reacting to the rates decision and ensuring the government works closely with the Bank of England to combat inflation will be a key test of his premiership.
November 6 — COP27 summit in Egypt
Sunak made a point of telling Tory MPs on Tuesday that he is committed to the U.K.’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The question now is whether he attends the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Truss reportedly planned to go, despite her skepticism of aspects of the net-zero agenda.
If Sunak does go to Egypt, it could be his first foreign trip in office (unless he decides to make a quick visit to Ukraine beforehand) and his first opportunity to present himself on the world stage.
November 8 — Boundary changes
The Boundary Commission for England will publish its new constituency map on November 8.
At this point, some Tory MPs will know with near certainty that their constituencies are being carved up between neighboring areas, with some forced to jostle with colleagues over who will get to stand where.
It will be a political headache for Sunak to deal with, and any MPs whose safe seats become marginal will sense their political careers coming to an end — and will have less of an incentive to support him in key votes in the months ahead.
November 13 — G20 meeting in Indonesia
The next big foreign trip coming down the track is the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
The meeting will be an opportunity for Western powers to present a united front against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and against China’s increased aggression toward Taiwan, but also to hold talks behind closed doors. There have been reports that both China’s Xi Jinping and Russian Vladimir Putin will attend.
Sophia Gaston, the head of foreign policy at the Policy Exchange think tank, said this was shaping up to be “one of the most extraordinary summits of modern history, with a violent war raging in Ukraine and the leading protagonist, Vladimir Putin, on the guest list alongside other autocratic leaders and outraged democratic allies.”
“As well as promoting free trade and the rules-based international order, Sunak would likely see the G20 as an opportunity to build support for his proposed ‘NATO-style’ technology alliance,” Gaston said. “He may well also debut a new U.K. message on the net-zero transition.”
Late November or early December — Chester by-election
Labour whips are preparing to trigger a by-election in the city of Chester in late November or December.
The by-election is taking place because the city’s MP Christian Matheson resigned after a parliamentary watchdog recommended he be suspended for sexual misconduct.
Matheson sits on a 6,164-vote majority, and the seat has traditionally been a swing seat flipping between the Tories and Labour. It was Conservative up until 2010.
Based on current polling figures, Labour should win a significantly larger majority than it currently has, though by-elections do suffer from small turnouts and so unexpected results are not uncommon. A dramatic Tory defeat would set alarm bells ringing in the party.
Another by-election could be triggered in the coming months if, as expected, Boris Johnson elevates his ally and MP Nadine Dorries to the House of Lords in his resignation honors. That would likely be the first by-election in a Tory-held seat fought with Sunak as party leader.
December 31 — U.K. deadline for joining trans-Pacific trade bloc
The U.K. government has said it hopes to conclude negotiations on joining the CPTPP — a trade agreement signed by 11 countries including Australia and New Zealand — by the end of the year.
Securing this deal was one of Truss’ priorities. For Sunak it would represent both a concrete foreign policy achievement and an indication that the U.K. is successfully building closer diplomatic ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific after Brexit.
Talks around the partnership have thrown up some diplomatic obstacles, with China reacting angrily to U.K. trade officials meeting Taiwanese counterparts. Both China and Taiwan have applied to join the CPTPP.
There have been suggestions that the evidence against him is so damning that Johnson could face temporary suspension from parliament or even be kicked out as an MP. The inquiry may have formed part of Johnson’s decision not to stand for the Tory leadership contest.
If the privileges committee says Johnson should be sanctioned once it concludes its inquiry, Sunak will have to judge his response and decide whether to whip Tory MPs to back its recommendations even if that provokes Johnson’s ire. There is also the risk that Sunak himself will be dragged into the probe, given he too was fined over the Partygate scandal.
Among other things, the probe will examine the impact of the economic policies that Sunak designed as chancellor during the pandemic, putting his decisions under scrutiny.
His “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme — which encouraged people to dine in restaurants during the post-lockdown summer of 2020 — could become a focus, with critics claiming it drove up coronavirus-related infections and deaths.
February — Energy support nears its end
By the time Sunak’s first 100 days are up, there will be pressure on the government to explain how it will support people with their energy bills past the spring if wholesale gas prices haven’t drastically fallen. Hunt has already rolled back the Truss government’s two-year guarantee and instead capped people’s energy bills at an average of £2,500 for just six months. That policy ends in April.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Emmerson said: “We’ve got a big generous offer from the government through this winter — although prices are still a lot higher than they were last year, they will be nowhere near as high as they would have otherwise been.
“The prime minister and chancellor will spend a lot of time thinking about how they replace that scheme. In some ways, it’s very similar to the kind of furlough scheme that Sunak had during the pandemic — very generous, big scheme with lots of crude edges to it,” he said.
“It’s understandable wanting to get in place quickly to support people, but how do you get out of it? Do it too quickly and that’s too much pain for too many people — keep it in place for too long, and that’s very expensive to the government.”
It’s just one of so many enormous decisions the new PM faces in his first 100 days.
LONDON — Rishi Sunak will be appointed U.K. prime minister Tuesday after his last remaining rival Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the Tory leadership contest.
Sunak, the former chancellor, won the public support of almost 200 of his Conservative MP colleagues to succeed Liz Truss, who resigned last Thursday after a chaotic six weeks in office.
It caps a remarkable political comeback for Sunak, who only last month was defeated in a head-to-head leadership contest with Truss and was subsequently excluded from her top team. He faces a formidable in-tray, however, with the U.K. in the grip of an economic crisis, Conservative poll ratings in the doldrums, and the party riven by in-fighting.
“I am humbled and honored,” he said. “It is the greatest privilege of my life to serve.”
Mordaunt, who trailed Sunak in terms of support from her parliamentary colleagues, announced her withdrawal from the contest just as MPs’ nominations closed at 2 p.m. on Monday. Her decision avoids the need for a vote among the wider Conservative Party membership, who would have been balloted this week for a final decision.
“This decision is an historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party,” Mordaunt said, hailing the man who will now become the U.K.’s first British-Asian prime minister. “Rishi has my full support.”
Sunak, 42, will become prime minister Tuesday lunchtime after meeting King Charles III. Truss, who remains prime minister until the formal handover of power, will chair her final Cabinet at 10.15 a.m. Tuesday, before making an exit speech on the steps of Downing Street and traveling to Buckingham Palace to make the transfer of power official.
Sunak, who has barely spoken in public since his defeat to Truss was confirmed on September 5, made a brief address to the nation on Monday afternoon, in which he paid tribute to Truss for serving under “exceptionally difficult circumstances” — but warned the U.K. now faces “a profound economic challenge.”
“I pledge that I will serve you with integrity and humility,” he said, “and I will work day in, day out to deliver for the British people.”
Although Sunak faces intense pressure from the opposition Labour Party to call a general election following weeks of political turmoil, under the U.K.’s parliamentary system he will be under no obligation to do so until January 2025, as he now commands the confidence of the largest party in the House of Commons.
Sunak’s coronation also follows a decision by Boris Johnson to pull out of the contest. The former prime minister, who was ousted in July, had been mulling a second tilt at the job after a weekend spent canvassing Tory MPs.
But Johnson said on Sunday evening that it was “not the right time” for him to attempt a comeback and suggested he would not be able to govern effectively without “a unity party in parliament”.
Critic of ‘fairytale’ economics
Sunak was chancellor for over two years following his appointment in February 2020, and steered the U.K. economy through the coronavirus pandemic before resigning in the summer in an act that helped bring down Johnson’s premiership.
He stood in the Tory leadership race that followed but was defeated in a final head-to-head contest with Truss, who secured 57.4 percent of votes from the party grassroots.
Throughout the contest Sunak was a vocal critic of Truss’ controversial economic program, using a live TV debate to tell her: “Borrowing your way out of inflation isn’t a plan, it’s a fairytale.” He warned repeatedly — and presciently — that Truss’ debt-funded tax cuts would push up interest rates and send mortgage payments climbing.
He will now be tasked with turning Conservative Party fortunes after the precipitous drop in the polls that followed Truss’ disastrous economic program — much of which has already been abandoned.
Sunak’s most notable endorsement Monday might have been the drop in gilt yields that followed the announcement he is to take over. But the pound still came under selling pressure after a key economic survey showed a worsening downturn in the U.K.
Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said Sunak had been appointed to the U.K.’s top job “without him saying a single word about how he would run the country, and without anyone having the chance to vote.”
She repeated the opposition’s call for a general election, adding: “Rishi Sunak has no mandate and no idea what working people need.”
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.
LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Sunday he will not run to lead the Conservative Party, ending a short-lived attempt to return to the prime minister’s job he was ousted from little more than three months ago.
His withdrawal leaves former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak the strong favorite to be Britain’s next prime minister. He could win the contest as soon as Monday.
Johnson, who was ousted in July amid ethics scandals has been widely expected to run to replace Liz Truss, who quit last week after her tax-cutting economic package caused turmoil in financial markets and obliterated her authority inside the governing party.
Johnson spent the weekend trying to gain support from fellow lawmakers after flying back from a Caribbean vacation.
Late Sunday he said he had amassed more than 100 names, the threshold to run.
But he was far behind Sunak in support. Johnson said he had concluded that “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament.”
Sunak garnered the public support of well over 100 Tory lawmakers to forge ahead of his two main rivals: Johnson and ex-Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt.
The Conservative Party hastily ordered a contest that aims to finalize nominations 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.
“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.
Johnson’s exit came after allies insisted he would run.. Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC on Sunday that he spoke with Johnson and “clearly he’s going to stand” after flying back to London Saturday from a vacation in the Dominican Republic.
A possible return to power for Johnson, 58, who officially quit only in early September, deeply divided the Conservatives and alarmed many others. Supporters say he is a vote winner and has enough support from lawmakers, but many critics warn that another Johnson government would be catastrophic for the party and the country.
Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, a former backer of Johnson and an influential politician within the Conservative Party, warned a Johnson comeback would be a “guaranteed disaster.” Baker noted that Johnson still faces an investigation into whether he lied to Parliament while in office about breaking his government’s own coronavirus restrictions during parties at Downing Street.
If found guilty, Johnson could be suspended as a lawmaker.
“This isn’t the time for Boris and his style,” Baker told Sky News on Sunday. “What we can’t do is have him as prime minister in circumstances where he’s bound to implode, taking down the whole government … and we just can’t do that again.”
But Johnson won the backing of several senior Conservatives, including Nadhim Zahawi, another former Treasury chief.
“He was contrite and honest about his mistakes. He’d learned from those mistakes how he could run No 10 and the country better,” Zahawi said.
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 “fairy tales” and argued that climbing inflation must be controlled first.
Tory voters backed Truss over Sunak, but he was proved right when Truss’ unfunded tax-cutting package triggered chaos in the markets in September.
Dozens among Britain’s 357 Conservative lawmakers have not yet publicly declared whom they are backing to replace Truss.
LONDON — Rishi Sunak could be installed as U.K. prime minister as early as Monday after Boris Johnson sensationally abandoned hopes of a return to No. 10 Downing Street.
In a dramatic statement Sunday evening after a weekend spent canvassing Tory MPs, Johnson announced it was “not the right time” for him to attempt a comeback when Liz Truss steps down this week.
His decision leaves Sunak, his fierce rival and former chancellor, in pole position to take over as U.K. prime minister in the coming days — although third-placed Penny Mordaunt could yet see a surge in support following Johnson’s abrupt departure from the race.
“I believe I have much to offer,” Johnson said in a statement, “but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”
The rules agreed by Tory Party chiefs following Truss’ resignation state that any candidate hoping to succeed her requires the support of 100 fellow Tory MPs by the time nominations close on Monday at 2 p.m.
Sunak had easily cleared that hurdle by late Saturday afternoon, with both Johnson and Mordaunt lagging behind and seemingly struggling to make the cut.
In his statement Sunday evening, Johnson claimed he did in fact have the numbers required, and that he was confident of winning sufficient support in the subsequent ballot of Tory grassroots members to put himself back in No. 10. But he said the urgent need for party unity meant he would pull out of the race instead.
“You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament,” Johnson said. “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.
“Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds.”
Critics of Johnson claimed he simply never had the numbers to meet the 100-MP threshold, pointing to his lack of publicly-declared nominations and the deep-seated anger within the party over his scandal-hit years in Downing Street.
Whatever the truth, with his main rival now out of the race Sunak will be optimistic of winning the contest at the first attempt Monday, without the need for a ballot of the party grassroots. Senior figures including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt rowed in behind Sunak Sunday evening following Johnson’s departure from the race.
Allies of Mordaunt insisted she would remain in the contest and hoped to win enough support from former Johnson supporters to hit the magic total of 100 MPs — so forcing a ballot of members in the days ahead.
But most observers believe Sunak is now firmly on course for Downing Street, just seven astonishing weeks after he was roundly defeated by Truss in the last Tory leadership contest. Victory would see him installed as Britain’s first-ever Hindu prime minister, and at Diwali — the five-day Hindu and Sikh festival of lights.
In a series of tweets Sunday evening Sunak paid tribute to Johnson, the man who gave him his big break in politics in February 2020 — plucking him from the junior ministerial ranks to make him chancellor — before a dramatic falling-out between the pair saw Sunak quit the Cabinet in July 2022, precipitating Johnson’s own departure from No. 10.
“Boris Johnson delivered Brexit and the great vaccine roll-out,” Sunak said. “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.
“Although he has decided not to run for PM again, I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad.”
Johnson had always made clear he hoped to one day return as prime minister after being ousted back in July. His parting shot to the House of Commons at his final session of Prime Minister’s Questions was “Hasta la vista, baby” — a reference to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous “I’ll be back” catchphrase from the ‘Terminator’ movies.
Indeed, former colleagues of Johnson including his most senior ex-aide, Dominic Cummings, claim he tacitly supported Truss’ bid for No. 10 precisely because he believed she was unsuited to the role, and so would crash and burn once ensconced in No. 10 — potentially giving him the chance of a comeback.
But even Johnson was taken by surprise at the speed of Truss’ meltdown. He was on holiday with his family in the Caribbean when she abruptly resigned Thursday after just 44 days in power, and was forced to fly home late Friday night to kickstart his nascent leadership bid.
He was supported by several senior figures including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Cabinet Office Minister Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg.
But many other former allies had advised him against another run, and several of the party’s most senior right-wing figures had backed Sunak instead.
Even Johnson’s closest supporters were taken by surprise by his decision Sunday evening. Embarrassingly, a newspaper column written by Zahawi backing Johnson for the leadership was published at 9 p.m., the exact moment Johnson was pulling out of the race. Zahawi announced 29 minutes later that he was now backing Sunak instead.
Another prominent Johnson supporter, James Duddridge, tweeted simply: “Well that was unexpected. Off to bed!” An hour later he, too, announced he was backing Sunak.
LONDON — They were once close allies — two Tory Brexiteers working at the very top of government to steer Britain through the pandemic.
They then became the deadliest of enemies, when the apprentice knifed his master in the back and embarked on a fruitless campaign to pinch his job.
Now the poisonous rivalry between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak has reached its dramatic third act — an extraordinary struggle to take back control of the Conservative Party following the disaster of Liz Truss’ brief tenure.
“Rishi is the acceptable face of the Conservatives,” said one party insider who knows both men well, “whereas Boris has a monstrous appetite and a huge ego — he wouldn’t have got where he is without it.”
For Sunak, victory would mark an improbable comeback, just six weeks after he was roundly defeated in the last leadership contest.
Yet for Johnson, the comeback would be even more unlikely. No ousted prime minister has returned to No. 10 in nearly 40 years, since Labour’s Harold Wilson in 1974. Nobody since Bonar Law in the 1920s has led the Conservative Party twice.
The leadership contest has been truncated to last just a single week this time, and nominees must secure the backing of at least 100 Tory MPs by Monday afternoon to go forward to a final ballot of the party grassroots.
MPs have begun declaring their allegiances already, with Sunak currently in the lead and Johnson in second place. For both men, there is all to play for ahead of Monday’s 2 p.m. deadline.
The love I lost
A final head-to-head dual between Johnson and Sunak would be a gripping moment even by the standards of a modern-day Conservative Party which seems endlessly embroiled in psychodrama.
It was Johnson who gave Sunak his big break, promoting him first to a senior ministerial role in the Treasury and then, six months later, making him chancellor, the second-biggest job in government.
At first, the pair seemed to work well, with Johnson’s allies heaping praise on his young protege as the pair battled their way through the COVID pandemic which struck just a few weeks after Sunak was appointed chancellor in early 2020.
The PM and chancellor initially had a joint unit of advisers, but it gradually became dominated by Sunak’s people and the pair increasingly found themselves at loggerheads over tax-and-spend decisions. Sunak tacked to a more traditional Conservative view of fiscal responsibility and Johnson was comfortable with higher spending and borrowing.
“There had been mounting tension between the PM and Rishi for a while,” said one member of Johnson’s No. 10 team. “[Johnson] wanted a more adventurous, ambitious economic policy.”
By the time Sunak resigned, relations between the two men had deteriorated bitterly. Johnson’s team had long believed Sunak was plotting to oust their boss, and the same former aide claimed Sunak had not even phoned Johnson to warn him he was quitting.
During the summer leadership contest Sunak frequently distanced himself from his old boss, while allies of Johnson made clear they were prepared to stop Sunak’s march to No. 10 at any cost.
If they do end up as the final two contenders, nobody in the party will be able to say they are not getting a genuine choice.
Grassroots’ choice
Many of those who backed Sunak last time, largely from the moderate or centrist wing of the party, have immediately flocked back to his side. A few right-wingers, too — fed up of the Johnson circus — have joined them.
For his part, Johnson has garnered support mainly from loyalist former ministers, along with a cohort of ardent Brexiteers. But he has already demonstrated he still has the power to attract party big hitters, despite his checkered record in office.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, well-regarded for his handling of the Ukraine invasion, ruled himself out of the race Friday and said he was inclined to support Johnson as he “wins elections.” Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor seen as a quasi-spokesman for the post-industrial areas in northern England won by the Tories in 2019, also switched allegiance to Johnson Friday, having previously backed Sunak in his head-to-head with Truss.
Crucially, Johnson has another weapon in his armory, in the form of thousands of grassroots activists who believe he was wrongfully defenestrated in the summer and could yet rise again to save the party. If Johnson can make it onto the members’ ballot, he would fancy his chances against Sunak — or any of his other rivals — in a final head-to-head.
“It’s very similar to the Liz vibes of ‘we’re gonna win, it’s gonna be amazing’ and sunlit uplands,” said one Tory activist. “They all still think that absolutely nothing has happened since 2019, and Boris is still this hugely popular lovable buffoon that wins elections.”
Two rival Whatsapp groups have already sprung up for councillors and other local members: a ‘Back Boris’ group containing more than 500 people and a ‘Ready4Rishi’ group which is closer to 300.
Stumbling blocks
Sunak faces two major obstacles in his quest for Downing Street. The first — a major problem in his last campaign — is a perception of untrustworthiness among the grassroots, still angry that he turned on Johnson in July and triggered the sequence of events that led to the PM’s exit.
Second, Sunak is widely seen to have fought a lackluster campaign against Truss last time around — and the Conservative Party prides itself on picking winners. In the words of Tory focus group guru James Frayne, Sunak was “technocratic” where Truss was punchy and bold.
For his part, Johnson comes with enough baggage to fill the Downing Street flat several times over. Most pressingly, he is facing a parliamentary inquiry into whether he misled the House of Commons over the so-called Partygate scandal — a potentially serious offense which could see him temporarily suspended as an MP.
One MP elected in 2019 under Johnson’s banner said: “This inquiry would rip us apart if Boris was in No. 10.” An ex-aide to Johnson predicted that choosing him would prove to be “short-term gain for long-term pain,” as Johnson would provide a temporary bounce for the Tories “only to be then mired in months of crap” around the inquiry.
The Johnson myth
But there are good reasons, too, why these two former allies are the leading contenders for No. 10.
“[Johnson] does just make people feel good about themselves,” said a senior Conservative official who has known him since his time as mayor of London. “He has that quality.”
A former Sunak campaign member who has worked in frontline politics since the David Cameron era said he was “the hardest working politician I’ve ever seen in my life,” adding: “I don’t think anyone comes close to him in understanding the economy.”
Henry Hill, deputy editor of ConservativeHome, said the two men’s electoral appeal was radically different. Sunak would enable a “blue wall”-centered strategy at the next election — appealing to more affluent seats in the South — while “the best version of a Boris case is that it’s leaning into the realignment which accepts the Conservative Party’s future is more based on working-class constituencies in the North.”
Despite the persistent view among many Tories that Johnson is an election winner, however, pollsters warn the picture has shifted since his thumping 80-seat victory in 2019.
Keiran Pedley of IPSOS said Johnson’s net satisfaction rating with the general public on leaving office was worse than that of past PMs John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or David Cameron, while a recent poll found most people rated Sunak above Johnson when it came to doing a better job than Truss.
Perhaps more important than their personal ratings, Pedley added, the Tory Party “probably needs to consider that their problem is that people have lost confidence in them on the economy and are looking anew at Labour.”
None of the above
It is not beyond the realms of imagination that a third candidate surges through the middle and defeats the two biggest hitters in the race.
Brexiteer darlings Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman would all be hopeful of beating Sunak in a members’ ballot — although of these, Mordaunt is probably the only one likely to attract enough support from MPs to reach a final head-to-head.
Intriguingly, rumors abound — denied by both camps — of the possibility of a deal between the two men; one perhaps accepting a senior position in the other’s administration in return for their support.
“I reckon he wants a big job,” one former adviser to Johnson said. “Home secretary, or foreign secretary maybe.”
While Johnson was photographed flying back to the U.K. from his Caribbean holiday late Friday night, many expect he will only reenter the fray if he is confident he can win.
“Him losing a leadership contest is just ignominious — that’s not how the myth is meant to end,” said Hill. “In that circumstance, he’d probably be much happier always being able to think ‘oh, it could have been me.’”
This story was updated to include Boris Johnson’s return to the U.K.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to say that nobody since Bonar Law in the 1920s has led the Conservative Party twice.
LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss described herself as “a fighter and not a quitter” Wednesday as she faced a hostile opposition and fury from her own Conservative Party over her botched economic plan. Within hours of the defiant statement, her government was teetering on the verge of collapse.
A senior member of the government left her post with a fusillade of criticism at Truss, and a House of Commons vote descended into acrimony and accusations of bullying,
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she resigned after breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. She used her resignation letter to lambaste Truss, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government.”
“The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes,” she said. “Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see that we have made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics.”
Braverman is a popular figure on the Conservative Party’s right wing and a champion of more restrictive immigration policies who ran unsuccessfully for party leader this summer, a contest won by Truss.
Braverman was replaced as home secretary, the minister responsible for immigration and law and order, by former Cabinet minister Grant Shapps. He’s a high-profile supporter of Rishi Sunak, the former Treasury chief defeated by Truss in the final round of the Conservative leadership race.
Truss faced more turmoil in Parliament Wednesday evening on a vote over fracking for shale gas — a practice that Truss wants to resume despite opposition from many Conservatives.
With a large Conservative majority in Parliament, an opposition call for a fracking ban was easily defeated by 326 votes to 230, but some lawmakers were furious that Conservative Party whips said the vote would be treated as confidence motion, meaning the government would fall if the motion passed.
There were angry scenes in the House of Commons during and after the vote, with party whips accused of using heavy-handed tactics to gain votes. Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant said he “saw members being physically manhandled … and being bullied.”
Some lawmakers reported that that Conservative Chief Whip Wendy Morton, who is responsible for party discipline, and her deputy had resigned. But Truss’ office later said both remained in their jobs.
Conservative officials denied there had been manhandling, but in the chaos Truss herself failed to vote, according to the official record. Many Tory lawmakers were left despondent by the state of their party.
Conservative lawmaker Charles Walker said it was “a shambles and a disgrace.”
“I hope that all those people that put Liz Truss in (office), I hope it was worth it,” he told the BBC. “I hope it was worth it to sit around the Cabinet table, because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.”
The dramatic developments came days after Truss fired her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, on Friday after the economic package the pair unveiled Sept. 23 spooked financial markets and triggered an economic and political crisis.
The plan’s 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts sparked turmoil on financial markets, hammering the value of the pound and increasing the cost of U.K. government borrowing. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk.
On Monday Kwarteng’s replacement, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt, scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise of no public spending cuts. He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. 31.
Speaking to lawmakers for the first time since the U-turn, Truss apologized Wednesday and admitted she had made mistakes during her six weeks in office, but insisted that by changing course she had “taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country’s economic stability.”
Opposition lawmakers shouted “Resign!” as she spoke in the House of Commons.
Asked by opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, “Why is she still here?” Truss retorted: “I am a fighter and not a quitter. I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.”
Official figures released Wednesday showed U.K. inflation rose to 10.1% in September, returning to a 40-year high first hit in July, as the soaring cost of food squeezed household budgets. While inflation is high around the world — driven up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on energy supplies — polls show most Britons blame the government for the country’s economic pain.
With opinion polls giving the Labour Party a large and growing lead, many Conservatives now believe their only hope of avoiding electoral oblivion is to replace Truss. But she insists she is not stepping down, and legislators are divided about how to get rid of her.
A national election does not have to be held until 2024. Truss appeared to rule out calling an early election, saying Wednesday that “what is important is we work together … to get through this winter and protect the economy.”
Under Conservative Party rules, Truss technically is safe from a leadership challenge for a year, but the rules can be changed if enough lawmakers want it. There is fevered speculation about how many lawmakers have already submitted letters calling for a no-confidence vote, and tensions rose further on Wednesday evening.
As yet, there is no front-runner to succeed her. Sunak, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and popular Defense Secretary Ben Wallace all have supporters, as does Hunt, whom many see as the de facto prime minister already.
Some even favor the return of Boris Johnson, who was ousted in the summer after becoming enmeshed in ethics scandals.
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Follow AP’s coverage of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/liz-truss
After weeks of market turmoil and countless U-turns, British Prime Minister Liz Truss apologized late Monday for what she called “the mistakes that have been made” during the opening weeks of her already imperiled premiership.
“First of all, I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made,” Truss said in an interview with the BBC.
“I wanted to act, to help people with their energy bills, to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast,” she added.
Truss also insisted that she would “definitely” lead her Conservative Party into the next general election, which is expected in 2024.
The new PM is already fighting to maintain her post after roughly six weeks in Downing Street. A growing number of Conservative MPs are openly plotting ways to oust the prime minister, who was forced to sack her close friend Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor following a furious market response to her tax-cutting agenda.
Earlier Monday, Jeremy Hunt, Truss’ hastily-appointed replacement chancellor, used a television address to essentially tear up the manifesto which Truss ran on to ultimately win the summer’s Tory leadership contest.
“Growth requires confidence and stability,” Hunt said, in a clear admission Truss has been unable to provide either since her appointment as prime minister on September 6.
The struggling prime minister later dodged a request from the opposition Labour Party for her to appear in the House of Commons and explain the thinking behind her replacement of Kwarteng with Hunt.
Her stand-in for that parliament appearance, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, was forced to deny that Truss was hiding from scrutiny.
“Well, the prime minister is not under a desk, as the honorable lady says,” Mordaunt said.
