- Jasmine Andersson
- BBC correspondent
image source,Reuters
Johnson has announced his withdrawal from the Conservative Party leadership race
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he was withdrawing from the Conservative Party leadership race, saying he had enough support to run but would not be “the right thing to do”.
Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer, and Penny Mordaunt, the cabinet minister, will remain in the race – with Sunak leading the way in public support among MPs .
Johnson said he had a “very good chance” of success if he got into the competition and messed up, and then “be back in Downing Street on Friday”.
But, he said, now “a united party is needed in parliament”.
On Thursday (October 20), Liz Truss (Zhuhuisi) resigned after 45 days as Prime Minister, and the race for the new Prime Minister began.
Nominations for the campaign close on Monday afternoon, and candidates need the support of at least 100 Conservative MPs to compete.
The latest statistics from the BBC show that there are 155 people who publicly claim to support Sunak and 25 people who support Mordant.
According to this tally, Johnson has 54 supporters – although he claims he has 102. Not all 357 MPs have publicly stated who they support.
Sunak could become prime minister as early as Monday, with a new prime minister at the latest by the end of the week.
Johnson said he had been interested in running because “I led my party to a big victory less than three years ago – so I believe I am now in a unique position to avoid a general election”.
“A general election will be more distracting and catastrophic for the government at a time when the government must focus on the economic pressures facing households across the country.”
The next general election is in January 2025. But the new prime minister – already the third this year – could come under increasing pressure from the opposition to hold a general election before then.
“I can say with certainty that I have a high bar of 102 nominations, including one proposer and one seconder, and I can submit my nomination tomorrow,” Johnson said.
“There’s a very good chance I’ll be successful in the Conservative Party election, and then I’ll probably be back in Downing Street on Friday.”
“But unfortunately, over the past few days I have come to the conclusion that this is not going to be the right thing to do.”
“If you can’t have a united party in parliament, you can’t govern effectively.”
He said he had reached out to Sunak and Mordant because he “wants us to be united in the national interest – which we unfortunately haven’t been able to find a way to do.”
“I’m afraid the best course of action is to not let my nomination go any further and give my support to whoever wins.”
“I’m sure I can contribute a lot, but I’m afraid this is really not the right time.”
Analysis – BBC chief political correspondent Nick Eardley
This is a huge development. I spoke on the phone tonight with supporters of Boris Johnson who believed he would run. Tonight, I’m sure he won’t.
In his statement, Johnson said he believed he should have won the candidacy and returned to Downing Street by Friday. But he admits that he has difficulty uniting his party in parliament.
The former prime minister said he had 102 supporters. We have no way of verifying this, public figures are lower than this, and we may never know for sure. Basically, many MPs are skeptical of the numbers his camp claims.
All of this makes Sunak a big favorite. But Penny Mordant will try to win over Johnson’s supporters in the coming hours, then show she has a legion of MPs behind her.
The opposition is expected to criticise Johnson for saying he is “in a unique position to avoid a general election”.
Sunak said on Twitter that “we will be forever grateful” for Johnson’s work in office, including completing the Brexit process and rolling out a vaccine.
“While he has decided not to run for the premiership, I really hope he will continue to contribute to the public good at home and abroad,” he wrote.
And while Sunak is currently the frontrunner, a source close to the former treasurer said: “We don’t take anything for granted.”
They told the BBC: “Rich will continue to discuss with his colleagues how best to unite the party and take the country forward ahead of his nomination papers tomorrow morning.”
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, repeated Labour’s call for an immediate general election.
She said: “The Tories (Conservatives) are about to hand Rishi Sunak the keys to the country without him saying a word about how to run the country. No one has voted on this. “
“Perhaps it’s no surprise that he evaded supervision: after all, he was so bad a few weeks ago that he was beaten by Liz Truss.”
Johnson became prime minister after winning the 2019 election, but resigned in July after cabinet ministers overthrew his leadership.
Truss succeeded him as the 56th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She beat Sunak in this summer’s leadership race.
However, her brief prime ministership lasted only 45 days.
Her “mini-budget” on Sept. 23, which sparked economic turmoil and a series of government policy reversals, led to her resignation on Thursday, her second leadership battle in three months.