Boris Johnson has been forced to abandon the competition for the leadership of the Conservative Party and to give up his aspiration to be prime minister again and successor to Liz Truss. In a statement issued on Sunday night, Johnson claims to have achieved 102 endorsements, thus exceeding the bar set to achieve the nomination, but acknowledges that he does not have support in the parliamentary group. The BBC has only been able to verify 57 of those nominations.
“There is a very good chance,” says Johnson, “that he might succeed in the election with members of the Conservative party and that he might, in fact, be back in Downing Street on Friday. But in the course of the last few days I have sadly come to the conclusion that that would not be appropriate. You cannot govern efficiently unless there is unity in the parliamentary group”. Johnson had rushed back from the Republican Republic where he was on vacation after Truss’s resignation last Thursday.
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Johnson’s departure from the race clears the way for former finance minister Rishi Sunak to become Britain’s next prime minister on Monday. His allies make it clear that they “take nothing for granted” and will continue “talking to colleagues tomorrow morning before the nomination papers are filed and will discuss how best to unite the Party and lead the country.” “.
The other candidate, Penny Mordaunt, had less than 50 endorsements until Sunday night, but in the next few hours she will try to gain the support of those who supported Johnson. All bets, however, point to Sunak being the only candidate with more than 100 endorsements. The official announcement of the result is scheduled for 2pm Monday London time.