London: Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson withdrew from the race to become Britain’s next leader on Sunday, claiming he had enough legislative support to go to the next round but considerably less than front-runner and former finance minister Rishi Sunak.
“There is a very high prospect that I will be successful with Conservative Party members in the election and that I may actually be back in Downing Street on Friday,” Johnson said in a statement.
But, unhappily, I’ve come to the decision that this is simply not the correct thing to do in the last few days. You cannot govern successfully until your party is united in parliament.
Johnson, who never formally launched his candidacy to return to Downing Street, has spent the weekend attempting to persuade conservative legislators to endorse him, and he said on Sunday that he had the support of 102 of them.
He needed 100 votes by Monday to go to the next stage, which would have pitted him against Sunak in a vote of the Conservative Party’s 170,000 members.
Sunak, whose departure as finance minister in July aided Johnson’s demise, has passed the 100-member level needed to advance to the next stage, with 142 announced backers on Sunday, according to Sky News (London).
He will be named Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister on Monday unless nominee Penny Mordaunt receives 100 votes to require a run-off vote among party members. On Sunday, she had 24 avowed supporters.
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