Rishi Sunak leads PM race as Boris Johnson flies back to London

Oct 22: The ex-chancellor has 93 endorsements from Tory MPs so far, though a campaign source said he had already reached 100. Former leader Boris Johnson, second with 44 backers, is poised to enter the contest to succeed Liz Truss and is flying back from a Caribbean holiday. Penny Mordaunt was the first to declare, counting 21 supporters so far. Trade Minister Sir James Duddridge, who is backing Mr Johnson, told BBC News: "He is coming home and is up for it." Neither Mr Sunak nor Mr Johnson have officially launched their campaigns, but this has not stopped backers declaring their support. Mr Johnson is on a flight back from a holiday in the Dominican Republic, and is due to arrive in London on Saturday morning. A BBC reporter on the flight says some passengers who tried to take selfies were stopped from doing so by his sizeable security team. MPs will be waiting to see if he makes a statement when he lands. Sources from Mr Sunak's campaign told BBC News he had already reached the 100 nominations needed to make it onto the ballot paper. Mr Sunak secured support from a number of senior colleagues, including former chancellor and health secretary Sajid Javid, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and former health secretary Matt Hancock. "It is abundantly clear that Rishi Sunak has what it takes to match the challenges we face - he is the right person to lead our party and take the country forward," Mr Javid said. Another backer, Tobias Ellwood, said he was the 100th MP to endorse Mr Sunak, saying: "Time for centrist, stable, fiscally responsible government offering credible domestic & international leadership." Mr Johnson's supporters said the former prime minister had "momentum and support". Mr Duddridge said: "He is the only election winner we have that has a proven track record in London, on Brexit, and in gaining the mandate we have now." 'I'm up for it' Sir James also read out what he said was a message from Mr Johnson to the PA Media news agency that appeared to confirm his bid: "I'm flying back, Dudders. We are going to do this. I'm up for it." The former Tory party leader is said to have contacted MPs from his holiday, the i newspaper reported, promising colleagues that if elected he would "adopt a more inclusive style of governing and bring more discipline to the Downing Street operation". International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman are said to be considering backing Mr Johnson, in a move that could unify the Right of the Tory party, the Daily Telegraph reported. Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith told BBC Newsnight that Mr Johnson has not officially declared his campaign because "he's probably waiting to see whether he felt he'd got the support... I'd say he's certainly up for it". Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak backer Tory MP Craig Williams said he will likely respond to calls to run for leader "in the coming hours or days... there are clearly over a hundred colleagues publicly declaring parliamentary support." Declaring her run earlier, Ms Mordaunt, the current leader of the House of Commons, said she had been encouraged by colleagues to run for prime minister - and pledged to "unite our country, deliver our pledges and win the next [general election]". She later told the Daily Telegraph: "We owe it to the country to have a detailed plan of how we will deliver. It is not enough to tell people we understand their issues. Our success should be measured in whether people really feel that we can support them. "I will harness the talents of all sides of the Conservative Party, and all the talents of the country to deliver this." Penny Mordaunt backer Conservative MP Bob Seely said "I think we owe the country a collective responsibility to apologise" and said he believes Ms Mordaunt has the best chance of providing "unity and leadership" within the party. Among those to have ruled themselves out of the race are Defence Secretary Ben Wallace - who has indicated he is "leaning" towards supporting Mr Johnson - and current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ruled himself out of the race, along with Mr Tugendhat and former cabinet minister Michael Gove. Contenders have until 14:00 BST on Monday to find 100 backers. If three reach the threshold, Conservative MPs will knock out one contender in a ballot on the same day. MPs will hold an "indicative" ballot of the final two, with the winner then decided in an online vote of party members, to finish next Friday.

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Rishi Sunak: The Star Wars fan who rocketed to power

Oct 26: His rise to the top has been fast. He only became MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 2015 and joined the Cabinet in 2019. "I showed up and people were surprised," Mr Sunak said about being selected to represent Richmond, with its overwhelming white population. But his "Yorkshire values" of hard work resonated with people and he won them over by showing an interest in what mattered to them, he said. Seven years on and he has made history as the UK's first British Asian prime minister. Mr Sunak joined Boris Johnson's cabinet in 2019 as chief treasury to the secretary working with chancellor Sajid Javid, and his career rocketed from there. A self-confessed "huge Star Wars fan" with a sizeable collection of lightsabers, he tweeted a photo of himself and his "Jedi Master" Mr Javid at a screening of The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. A few months later, the apprentice became the master when he replaced Mr Javid as chancellor, and was plunged into pandemic crisis planning and budgeting. For quite a few people, Mr Sunak appeared to be a reassuringly steady hand at the tiller as chancellor. When he pledged to do "whatever it takes" to help people through the pandemic in the spring of 2020 - and unveiled support worth £350bn - his personal poll ratings went through the roof. But the UK continued to be buffeted by stormy economic weather, and Mr Sunak himself had to deal with the fallout of being fined by police for breaking lockdown rules in Downing Street in June 2020. In July, he resigned from the cabinet, saying he felt his own approach to the economy was "fundamentally too different" to that of the PM, Boris Johnson. The move was instrumental in ousting Mr Johnson, which some of the former PM's allies will not have forgotten. Just 16 weeks later, he has become leader himself. His appointment as PM came on the day millions celebrated Diwali, and as a practising Hindu he has said one of his proudest career moments was lighting ceremonial diyas (oil lamps) outside 11 Downing Street while chancellor. A traditional Hindu red bracelet, meant for good luck and protection, could be seen on his wrist when he posed on the steps of 10 Downing Street for the first time as UK leader. Rishi Sunak: The basics Age: 42 Place of birth: Southampton, Hampshire Home: London and Yorkshire Education: Winchester College, Oxford University, Stanford University Family: Married to businesswoman Akshata Murty with two daughters Parliamentary constituency:Richmond (Yorkshire) There is no denying that Mr Sunak's wealth is a world away from that of most. Together, he and his wife Akshata Murty have an estimated worth of more than £700m - a sum which supersedes the personal wealth of King Charles III. Critics of Mr Sunak have raised the question of whether the millionaire can grasp the scale of the cost-of-living squeeze facing struggling households. In April, the finances of Mr Sunak and his family came under intense scrutiny, with the tax affairs of his wife - the daughter of Narayana Murthy, Indian billionaire and co-founder of IT services giant Infosys - placed in the spotlight. Headquartered in Bangalore, Infosys reported revenues of more than $11.8bn (£9bn) in 2019, $12.8bn in 2020, and $13.5bn in 2021. The company's latest annual report shows Ms Murty owns a 0.9% stake in Infosys. She announced in April she would start paying UK tax on this income to relieve political pressure on her husband. Mr Sunak's appointment as prime minister has made his own wealth and tax affairs a hot topic again. He has been tight-lipped about his personal wealth and maintains that he has never benefited from funds based in tax havens. It remains to be seen whether he and his family will split their time between Downing Street and the £4.5m five-bedroom townhouse in South Kensington, London where they currently reside. The Sunaks are understood to own a further three properties: a Grade II-listed manor house in the village of Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, in his Richmond constituency, was bought for £1.5m in 2015. The couple also own a flat in South Kensington and a penthouse apartment with views of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, California. Mr Sunak won the approval of 202 Tory MPs to replace Liz Truss as prime minister. Newsnight's political editor Nick Watt says his colleagues find him "very personable", but also someone who is "very clear and certain in what he thinks". For example, in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum - in which he campaigned to Leave - he was called into Downing Street and asked for his support to remain in the EU but he refused. "He said 'No, I think Brexit is the right thing to do' - which is quite a thing for a newly elected MP to say to Downing Street." Mr Sunak told the Yorkshire Post he believed leaving the EU would make the UK "freer, fairer and more prosperous". He said changing immigration rules was another key reason for his Leave vote: "I believe that appropriate immigration can benefit our country. But we must have control of our borders." Before entering politics Mr Sunak was an analyst for the investment bank Goldman Sachs and then worked for two multibillion dollar hedge funds. His supporters hope his eye for statistics and data will be an asset in making the right economic decisions. Mr Sunak's parents came to the UK from east Africa and are both of Indian origin. He was born in Southampton in 1980, where his father was a GP, and his mother ran her own pharmacy. "In terms of cultural upbringing, I'd be at the temple at the weekend - I'm a Hindu - but I'd also be at [Southampton Football Club] the Saints game as well on a Saturday - you do everything, you do both." In the interview he said he had been fortunate not to have endured a lot of racism growing up, but that there was one incident that had stayed with him. "I was just out with my younger brother and younger sister, and I think, probably pretty young, I was probably a mid-teenager, and we were out at a fast food restaurant and I was just looking after them. There were people sitting nearby, it was the first time I'd experienced it, just saying some very unpleasant things. The 'P' word. "And it stung. I still remember it. It seared in my memory. You can be insulted in many different ways." However, he said he "can't conceive of that happening today" in the UK. He attended the exclusive private school Winchester College and worked as a waiter at a Southampton curry house during his summer holidays. He has attracted criticism from Labour for donating more than £100,000 to his former school, to fund bursaries for children who could not afford to attend it. After finishing school he went on to Oxford to study philosophy, politics and economics, before studying for an MBA at Stanford University in California. There he met his wife, and the couple have two daughters. During the previous leadership campaign, he often mentioned his daughters in the context of climate change. Answering a question on climate change during a BBC TV debate, Mr Sunak said he took "advice from my two young daughters, who are the experts of this in my household".

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Sunak favourite to be UK PM after Johnson drops comeback bid

Rishi Sunak looked set to become Britain's next prime minister after Boris Johnson withdrew from the contest on Sunday, saying that although he had enough support to make the final ballot he realized the country and the Conservative Party needed unity.

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Liz Truss leads with 90 pc chance in race for next UK PM: Survey

LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is been rated to have a 90 percent shot over former chancellor Rishi Sunak to succeed Boris Johnson in the race for becoming the next Prime Minister, according to the latest estimate by betting exchange firm Smarkets. According to the Smarkets, Sunak’s chance of becoming the next PM has […]

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UK leadership race: Rivals for PM grilled by Tory members in first clash

LONDON: In a bid to succeed Boris Johnson as UK’s next Prime Minister, British Foreign Secretary Liz Trus said that she would prefer not to impose further windfall taxes on oil and gas companies while former Chancellor Rishi Sunak backtracked by putting forward the idea of scrapping VAT on energy bills to revive the country’s […]

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Sunak, Truss clash in heated TV debate

In a quest to succeed Boris Johnson as UK's next Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss traded blows at each other over economic policy and foreign relations

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Sunak, Truss clash in heated TV debate

In a quest to succeed Boris Johnson as UK's next Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss traded blows at each other over economic policy and foreign relations

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Boris Johnson resigns: First leadership bids to become next prime minister

JULY 8: Tom Tugendhat is the latest MP to throw his hat into the ring, joining Attorney General Suella Braverman and Brexiteer Steve Baker who have shown interest. Mr Johnson plans to stay on as PM until a new successor is found by the autumn. However, many colleagues and opposition politicians want him to leave now - but he has already filled cabinet jobs. Mr Johnson resigned on Thursday, following two days of desperate attempts to cling onto power amid a flood of resignations. Nearly 60 Conservative MPs have quit government roles in recent days at both senior and junior levels, raising doubts about the government's ability to function. Speaking to his newly appointed cabinet on Thursday, Mr Johnson promised he would not use his remaining time in No 10 to make "major changes of direction". A timetable for the Tory leadership race is due to be confirmed next week and the new prime minister is expected to be in position by September. But unofficially, the contest is already under way. The chair of the foreign affairs committee Mr Tugendhat, launched his leadership bid by writing in the Daily Telegraph on Friday, promising tax cuts and "new energy and ideas" for government. "I have served before - in the military, and now in Parliament. Now I hope to answer the call once again as prime minister," said the former soldier, who has been a prominent critic of Mr Johnson. Attorney General Ms Braverman has already confirmed she will stand, while former Brexit minister Mr Baker said he was "seriously" considering running after being asked by people to do so. Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps - who both revolted against Mr Johnson - are also considering putting their hats into the ring, the BBC has been told. Others tipped to run include Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and ex-Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. More declarations are expected in the coming days - but some senior Tories have already said they will not be running, including former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised Mr Sunak on Thursday, saying he was "not a successful chancellor" and "not alert to the inflationary problem". Speaking on Channel 4 News, the Johnson loyalist said the PM had been an "exceptionally good leader" who had been brought down by some "relatively minor missteps that got taken out of all proportion". Transport minister Robert Courts said Mr Shapps, who he works alongside, would be a "great choice" and also suggested Ben Wallace, the defence secretary. "I think we need someone who's got experience, someone who is able to campaign... someone who's able to deliver," he told BBC Newsnight. It may not surprise you to discover that Westminster is a postcode which doesn't suffer a deficit of ambition. The wannabes will fight a popularity contest among Tory MPs in the next few weeks, and should two of them be left at the end of that process, Conservative Party members will get the final say over the summer. Somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 people will be charged with selecting the next head of our government on our behalf. It is a safe bet the next prime minister will be a very different character to Boris Johnson. Given the manner and motivations behind his toppling, being seen to ooze integrity and revere truth are qualities all the candidates will aspire to illustrate. But beyond that there will be an intriguing debate about what it means to a Conservative in 2022. When a new leader assumes office, the political landscape will instantly shift. Meanwhile, Conservative backbench MP and former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said: "We need a complete break from the Boris years." Asked about what he would want in a new leader, he said someone with domestic and international experience and "someone who is patently moral and decent". MP John Baron said he thought a new leader should focus on the cost of living crisis, levelling up and helping the most vulnerable in society. It is important that "integrity" is at the heart of the government, he told the BBC. Any candidate for the leadership race would need to secure the backing of Tory MPs, with the final two candidates then going to a ballot of Conservative members. Some Tories are deeply unhappy that Mr Johnson is not quitting as PM immediately, with the former Prime Minister Sir John Major saying it would be "unwise" for him to stay until a replacement is chosen. Conservative MP Justine Greening said it was time for Mr Johnson to go and while he remains in No 10 "it's harder for the party and the country to move on". But Lord Vaizey who formerly served as a minister for David Cameron, said it was "fine" for the PM to continue "to act as caretaker". Getting rid of a prime minister can lead to "dissatisfaction" with party members and voters who elected them, he told Newsnight. The Labour Party has also threatened to try and unseat the PM immediately through a vote of no confidence, although this would need considerable support among Conservatives to succeed. According to Downing Street, Mr Johnson told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Thursday that he would not seek to implement "major changes of direction" or take "major fiscal decisions" while a caretaker PM. The prime minister's resignation followed a revolt by ministers over his leadership, which was sparked by the way he handled sexual misconduct allegations against former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher. Initially he tried to replace ministers who had quit, until it became clear that he had lost the confidence of the Conservative Party. In his resignation speech outside No 10 on Thursday, Mr Johnson said he had tried to stay on to deliver on his "incredible mandate" from the 2019 election. He cited various achievements including Brexit and the Covid vaccine programme. He said his departure was a result of the "herd instinct" at Westminster and it would be "painful" to not deliver on "so many ideas and projects". Mr Johnson also spoke to President Zelensky of Ukraine, reassuring him that his replacement would remain as committed to the war-torn country as he was. With inputs from BBC

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Boris Johnson: Why Conservatives are urging PM to resign

JULY 7: Months of unremitting political turbulence spiked on Tuesday when the health secretary and chancellor quit within 10 minutes of each other over the PM's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). This triggered a trickle of resignations and letters of no confidence from junior ministers and MPs that on Wednesday became a flood. That evening, a group of senior ministers went to Downing Street to try to persuade the PM to resign. But so far Mr Johnson remains defiant and says he has no intention of resigning given his "colossal mandate" from voters at the last election. Cabinet ally Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed the campaign against him as a "squall". Tory MP Andrew Mitchell told the BBC: "It's a bit like the death of Rasputin. He's been poisoned, stabbed, he's been shot, his body's been dumped in a freezing river and still he lives." So how did we get here? A drunken night out in Westminster Last Thursday Noa Hoffman, a 24-year-old just four days into her job as a political reporter for the Sun newspaper, broke the news that a Conservative MP had resigned from his role as a party whip following a boozy evening at the Carlton private members club. In his resignation letter, Chris Pincher told the PM he "drank far too much" and "embarrassed myself and other people". But the matter turned out to be far more serious: he is alleged to have grabbed two men at a private members' club, touching at least one of them on the groin. Two things then happened. The government briefed the media that Mr Pincher had recognised he had behaved badly and so would keep his job as an MP and face no further action. But behind the scenes Conservative MPs were furious. Similar allegations of sexual misconduct had been made against Mr Pincher in the past. Yet Mr Johnson had put him into a position of power as the party's deputy chief whip - enforcers who ensure MP discipline but who are also responsible for pastoral matters. How the official line changed The story then became about what Boris Johnson knew about Mr Pincher and when he knew it. For days ministers and Mr Johnson's spokesman insisted the prime minister was not aware of specific allegations against Mr Pincher when appointing him deputy chief whip. On Monday night that story collapsed when political correspondent Ione Wells revealed that Mr Johnson had in fact been made aware of a formal complaint about "inappropriate behaviour" by Mr Pincher when he was a Foreign Office minister from 2019-20. Tuesday saw a dramatic public intervention by the former top Foreign Office civil servant Sir Simon McDonald, who said Mr Johnson had been briefed in person about the complaint. Downing Street then told journalists that Mr Johnson had in fact known - but had "forgotten". On Tuesday Mr Johnson admitted it had been a "bad mistake" to appoint Mr Pincher. But the damage was done. Bombshell resignations The discontent erupted when Chancellor Rishi Sunak - responsible for the economy - and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit. In his letter Mr Sunak said the public "rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously". In a subsequent statement to Parliament on Wednesday Mr Javid said - with Mr Johnson looking on - that the problem "starts at the top" and "that's not going to change". Tuesday afternoon saw Mr Johnson call the rest of his cabinet to find out who was staying and who was going - so far the rest of the cabinet has remained loyal. Will Johnson resign? Or call a general election? On Wednesday Mr Johnson appeared before MPs in the House of Commons determined to ride out the storm. Asked by a Conservative MP if there were any circumstances under which he would resign - he replied that he would "hang on in there". "Frankly, the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you have been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going and that's what I'm going to do," he said, referring to his landslide 2019 general election win. But the BBC's Chris Mason said you could feel, hear and smell the authority draining away from Boris Johnson and his exit from Parliament was greeted by opposition Labour MPs jeering "bye bye". Several cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Priti Patel and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, appointed on Tuesday to replace Mr Sunak, are among senior figures now telling Mr Johnson to step down. The prime minister could also face a second confidence vote as early as next week, after he was told by leading MPs that they would change Conservative party rules to allow it. Some have questioned whether Mr Johnson could seek to shore up his position by calling an early general election. However a YouGov poll on Tuesday showed that 69% of British people now thought that Mr Johnson should resign and more than half of Conservative voters also believed he should go. So a snap general election would also be fraught with risk. With inputs from BBC

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UK PM under renewed pressure to go after two key ministers quit

LONDON, July 6: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure to go following the shock resignations of two key cabinet ministers on the same day, political experts told Xinhua on Tuesday. "This looks like the beginning of the end for Boris Johnson. He's lost two of the ministers, who many would regard as among the most competent in the Cabinet, those who have a quality that would be accepted by other potential leaders," said Professor Iain Begg, a political expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science's (LSE) European Institute. Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak resigned on Tuesday in protest against Johnson's leadership. Javid said he "can no longer, in good conscience, continue serving in this government," while Sunak criticized the government's lack of competence. Though Johnson has scrambled to make a swift cabinet reshuffle by appointing Steve Barclay as the new health secretary and Nadhim Zahawi as the new Chancellor, Begg believes the departure of two high-profile ministers and their scathing attack on Johnson's leadership will add to the pressure on his already precarious premiership. "The two resignations tonight and a couple of other resignations by lesser figures clearly intensify the pressure on Boris Johnson to go," he told Xinhua, noting a series of scandals engulfing the prime minister. He called Johnson's survival of a no-confidence vote within his own party weeks ago "a close-run thing." In the confidence vote over the "Partygate" scandal that saw Johnson and government employees revel in alcohol-fueled parties at Downing Street over the past two years when the country was in COVID-19 lockdown, lawmakers who voted against him amounted to more than 40 percent. The latest scandal involved Johnson's appointment of lawmaker Christopher Pincher to deputy chief whip despite being informed of formal complaints about his sexual misconduct. Johnson went on television to apologize for Pincher's appointment minutes before the two cabinet ministers' announcements of resignation. "Johnson is now extremely weakened. The question for him now is whether others, either in the Cabinet or in his own party, will say, this is too much. We must get rid of this man because he's bringing us all down," Begg said. "The accumulation of forces is pointing in the direction of him going, and going quickly." "The likelihood is there's going to be a lot soul-searching, both among members of the Cabinet who are not directly beholden to Boris Johnson and others in the party, and the likelihood is that they will find a way to topple him," he added. Professor Jon Tonge from the political department at the University of Liverpool told Xinhua, "Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on political death row. Any further resignations and it's surely the end. His political credibility is in ruins regardless."

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UK PM Boris on the brink as two ministers quit

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fighting for his political survival after finance minister Rishi Sunak and another senior minister abruptly resigned over the latest scandal to blight his administration, Reuters has reported. Sunak and health minister Sajid Javid sent resignation letters to Johnson within minutes of each other in which both took aim […]

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