BREAKING: #Boris Johnson Will Not Run For UK Prime Minister—The former Prime Minister of The United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has announced he will not be standing in the Tory leadership race.
In his statement, Mr Johnson says he thinks he could have won the membership and been in Downing St by Friday. But he concedes he would struggle to unite his party in parliament.
The former prime minister says he got 102 backers. We can’t verify this, the public number is lower and we may never know for sure. It’s safe to say many MPs are sceptical he had the number his campaign says.
This all makes Rishi Sunak the firm favourite. But Penny Mordaunt will be trying over the next few hours to win over Mr Johnson’s backers and show she has a significant chunk of Tory MPs behind her.
He said: “I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 – and 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.
“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.
“But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.”
The statement issued late on Sunday confirmed he would not stand in the contest, against Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.
Mr Johnson said that due to the failure to reach a deal with either of the candidates: “I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds”.
“I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time,” he added.
Johnson allies had claimed he had support of more than 100 MPs, but fewer than half that number had publicly declared their backing.By Sunday evening, Mr Sunak widened his lead over Ms Mordaunt.A total 134 backed the former chancellor, to Ms Mordaunt’s 26.
Mr Johnson’s support tallied 47 public backers by the time he issued a statement that he would not be contesting the leadership.
