The ex-prime minister has returned from a trip to the Caribbean, reinforcing the hypothesis of his candidacy. For his part, former finance minister Rishi Sunak has already exceeded the number of sponsorships needed to run.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson landed in London on Saturday morning, returning from vacation, reinforcing the hypothesis of his candidacy in the Downing Street race, for which Rishi Sunak is in the lead, having exceeded the 100 necessary sponsorships.
After the resignation of Liz Truss, who remained only 44 days in power, three names have emerged in this flash campaign within the Conservative Party: the current Minister for Relations with Parliament Penny Mordaunt, who formalized her candidacy on Friday, Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister who lost in early September to Liz Truss, and ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, who resigned in July after a succession of scandals.
His fight with Rishi Sunak dominates the headlines on Saturday. “Johnson and Sunak lead race as unity hopes fade“, title The Independent. “Conservative tribes go to war“, writing The Guardian.
Sky News television showed a British Airways plane from the Caribbean landing around 10.15am local time at Gatwick Airport, in which Boris Johnson was traveling.
“We will do it, I am ready”
On Friday evening, an ally of Boris Johnson in Parliament, James Duddridge, had reported an exchange with his “boss“. “He said, “We’ll do it, I’m ready“”, according to this deputy. But the former Prime Minister, who had left Parliament on July 20, launching “Hasta la vista, baby!“, has not yet officially announced his candidacy.
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Rishi Sunak, whose resignation from the Johnson government, followed by around sixty others, had led to that of his boss, should “soonconfirm his candidacy, the BBC said on Saturday at the start of the afternoon. He has remained extremely low-key since losing to Liz Truss in early September. He is the first to have exceeded the threshold of 100 sponsorships required on Friday evening to hope to take the lead of the Conservative Party and therefore win Downing Street.
The race is on
Candidates have until Monday afternoon to obtain these sponsorships. The deputies will vote first and, if there are two candidates remaining, the 170,000 party members will have to decide between them by an online vote by October 28. In the event of a single candidate, he would enter Downing Street directly at the start of the week.
According to the Guido Fawkes site, which closely follows the upheavals of the race, Rishi Sunak had 107 sponsorships on Saturday morning, ahead of Boris Johnson (71) and Penny Mordaunt (25).
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Rishi Sunak’s allies were campaigning on Saturday morning, omnipresent in the media. “I’m sure Rishi Sunak will show up. He is the ideal candidate“, said on Sky News Dominic Raab, ex-Minister of Justice. “If you look at the economic challenge we have, he’s the one that’s always been right about what we need“, he said. “We cannot go back. We can’t have another episode (…) of the partygate soap opera“, the illegal parties in Downing Street during the anti-Covid confinement, he also said.
Boris Johnson’s saucepans
The last months of Johnson’s mandate were marked by several scandals, including that of the “party gatein which the police felt he had broken the law. He is still under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Committee which could, in theory, lead to his suspension from Parliament or even his expulsion as an MP.
Former Conservative Party leader William Hague has warned that a return of Boris Johnson will result in a “death spiralfor the party. “This is probably the worst idea I’ve heard in my 46 years as a Conservative Party member.he told Times Radio.
But Boris Johnson can always count on strong support. For Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson, “he is a proven leader“. “Not only did he give us this historic victory in the 2019 general election, he also secured Brexit, he put in place the fastest vaccine deployment in Europe, he stood by our allies in Ukraine“, he added.
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