After Johnson Waiver
New British PM: All points are in favor of Rishi Sunak, but Penny Mordaunt is fighting for a runoff
Rishi Sunak can hardly be taken as Tory chairman and prime minister. He would be the first British Prime Minister from an ethnic minority background in the UK.
© Daniel Leal / AFP
The deadline is expired. Applicants for the Tory presidency and thus also for the office of prime minister can start the race until the afternoon. Boris Johnson’s resignation has cleared the way for Rishi Sunak. But one woman is still fighting for a runoff.
Will Britain have a new prime minister at the end of the day? Boris Johnson’s resignation in the prime ministerial race has significantly increased Rishi Sunak’s chances of moving to Downing Street. According to the BBC, more than 155 parliamentarians have spoken out in public for the ex-finance minister. He still has no opponent, but the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Penny Mordaunt, is working on a runoff election for the high offices – allegedly she is approaching the necessary mark of 100 supporters, it was said from her environment.
If Sunak remains the only candidate in the race to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss who gets the necessary backing – and that is what it looks like at the moment – he will immediately become party leader and prime minister by the end of the evening. He wants to lead the country through the crisis with “integrity and professionalism,” Sunak wrote on Twitter when he officially announced his candidacy on Sunday.
Prominent Johnson supporters switch to Rishi Sunak
Candidates can still enter the race until the afternoon (3 p.m. CEST). However, only those who can claim the backing of 100 MPs from the Tory group have a chance of getting the job. Penny Mordaunt, who is also running alongside Sunak, had fewer than 30 MPs for her side as of Sunday evening. It is considered unlikely that enough MPs will still vote for Mordaunt – especially since prominent Johnson supporters such as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel and ex-Minister Nahim Zahawi switched to the Sunak camp in the morning. Should Penny Mordaunt still get enough supporters together, the faction would first vote between the two. If both finalists want to remain in the race after that, the party base would have the floor.
A duel between Sunak and ex-Prime Minister Johnson had initially emerged over the weekend, and after Truss’ resignation after six unprecedentedly chaotic weeks in office, he quickly started talking about a comeback. The 58-year-old broke off his family vacation in the Caribbean at the weekend and pulled out all the stops for the “Bring Back Boris” operation. Although he did not officially confirm his candidacy until recently, supporters spread rumors and speculation ran hot.
Boris Johnson calls off Operation Bring Back Boris
Then on Sunday evening the turnaround: “I have a good chance of success in the party base and could possibly be back in Downing Street on Friday,” Johnson wrote. He has the support of 102 MPs and can therefore submit an application. This number could not be verified by British media. Significantly fewer supporters had spoken out publicly for Johnson.
Nevertheless, he had come to the conclusion that this was not the right way, Johnson continued. “You can’t govern effectively if you don’t have a unified party in parliament.” Unfortunately, there was also no agreement with his rivals Sunak or Mordaunt came about. “I think I have a lot to offer, but unfortunately this may not be the right time.”
Johnson’s comeback would have thrown the party into chaos
A comeback by Johnson would have had the potential to plunge the deeply divided Conservatives even deeper into chaos: In this case, several MPs had threatened to refuse Johnson’s allegiance as prime minister or even leave the party. An investigation is still pending over the scandal politician as to whether he lied to parliament in the “Partygate” affair – which would be considered a political knockout criterion. The influential Brexiteer Steve Baker therefore described a comeback as a “guaranteed disaster”.
Meanwhile, Sunak can present himself as a candidate capable of uniting the party. At the weekend, Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch and ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman also backed him from the party’s right-wing fringes. The 42-year-old benefits from the fact that in the last election campaign for party leadership he warned of the very financial chaos that Truss was causing with her economic policy. The son of Indian immigrants, Southampton-born Sunak would become the first British leader from an ethnic minority background in Britain.
Rishi Sunak – next unelected Tory PM
After the surprising news on Sunday evening, Sunak was modest. One does not take anything for granted, it was said from his camp. On Twitter, he wrote that Johnson would always be grateful, including for completing Brexit. With his resignation as finance secretary from Johnson’s cabinet in the summer, Sunak played a key role in bringing down the then prime minister. The relationship between the men was previously considered tense and has since been broken.
Meanwhile, opposition parties and much of the public are frustrated that the Tory party will once again be the sole dictator of who will rule the country. “The Tories are on the verge of handing Rishi Sunak the keys to Downing Street without him saying a word about how he wants to govern. Nobody voted for that,” said Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner. Like the other opposition parties, Labor is calling for an immediate new election.