Boris Johnson, on Sunday evening, pulled out of the race to succeed Liz Truss as Britain’s Prime Minister, leaving Rishi Sunak, his former chancellor of the Exchequer, with a convincing lead in the contest to be UK’s next leader.
Gatekeepers News reports that Johnson, in a statement, said he believed he had a path to victory in the contest to replace Truss, but he said, “I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do.”
Johnson said he did not believe he could govern effectively without a unified party in Parliament.
Prominent members of the Conservative Party have thrown their weight behind Sunak as a better option to try to reunite a deeply divided party.
Sunak, who formally declared his candidacy with a promise to “fix our economy,” had lined up at least 146 votes by late Sunday afternoon, according to a tally by the BBC, more than double the 57 votes pledged to Johnson.
Sunak also has multiple endorsements from people on the Conservative Party’s right flank. On Sunday morning, Steve Baker, a lawmaker who represents an influential group of euro-sceptics in Parliament, announced he would support Sunak.
Later in the day, Suella Braverman, an immigration hard-liner who served briefly as home secretary under Truss, threw her support to him. Kemi Badenoch, a rising star in the party who is international trade secretary, also declared support for Sunak.
“Boris Johnson would be a guaranteed disaster,” Baker told Sophy Ridge of Sky News. “We cannot allow it to happen.”
Gatekeepers News reports that Truss announced her resignation on Thursday after six turbulent weeks in office, making her one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in British history.
