Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Indian-origin Rushi Sunak, is set to become the next British prime minister as Boris Johnson, who was plotting a dramatic return to power, announced his decision to quit the race.
British media reported on Monday that Johnson has said he will not stand for the Tory leadership contest despite having the support of the required number of MPs to run.
He said his decision was based on the realisation that “this would simply not be the right thing to do” as “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament.”
He said in a statement, “Tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow.”
The former prime minister however said that though he was attracted by the prospect of returning to No 10, but he has decided that it is not the right thing to do.
“There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members – and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday.”
The BBC reported that with Johnson pulling out of the race, Indian-origin Rishi Sunak has a commanding lead in the contest and could be well on course to become the next prime minister.
Currently, the 42-year-old former chancellor has 144 Tory MPs backing him while the other candidate in the race, Penny Mordaunt, lags behind with the public support of 25, BBC reported.
Mordaunt, the Conservative party leader and former defence secretary, needs the support of over 100 MPs to win, but only 25 MPs have publicly backed her.
Sunak first became an MP in 2015 after he got elected from Richmond, Yorkshire.
He quickly rose through the party ranks and backed calls for ‘Brexit’. He was one of the supporters of Boris Johnson during his ‘leave EU’ campaign.
Sunak has the backing of some of the key Cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Grant Shapps, International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, Work and Pensions Secretary Chloe Smith and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
