United Kingdom: after the withdrawal of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak at the gates of Downing Street

Published on: 24/10/2022 – 08:28 Beaten at the start of September by Liz Truss, the conservative Rishi Sunak seems very close to Downing Street after the withdrawal of Boris Johnson from the race. A victory would make him the UK’s first head of government with an immigrant background. Will the name of the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom be revealed on Monday, October 24? If the successor to Liz Truss must be appointed by October 28 at the latest by the Conservative Party, the ballot could end more quickly than expected, after the abandonment of Boris Johnson. On Sunday, two candidates were officially declared: former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, who has the necessary MP endorsements, and current Parliamentary Relations Minister Penny Mordaunt, who does not. Boris Johnson, whose candidacy deeply divided his party, said in a statement on Sunday evening that he had the 100 supporters necessary to run, but that he had given it up because of divisions in the right-wing formation. “In recent days, I have come to the sad conclusion that it just wouldn’t be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively if you don’t have a united party in parliament,” explained the former head of government. , who had left Downing Street at the beginning of September, after a succession of scandals. The only candidate having obtained 100 sponsorships Rishi Sunak, 42, unsuccessful candidate this summer against Liz Truss, therefore now appears as the big favorite in the race for Downing Street. The former minister announced his candidacy on Sunday, after an intense weekend of negotiations. “I want to fix our economy, unite our party and act for our country,” he said on Twitter, promising “integrity, professionalism and responsibility”. The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis. That’s why I am standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and your next Prime Minister. I want to fix our economy, unite our Party and deliver for our country. pic.twitter.com/BppG9CytAK— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 23, 2022 He is currently the only candidate with the necessary 100 supporters. The other candidate, Minister for Relations with Parliament Penny Mordaunt, is far from it. He still has Monday morning to get there, a task that seems difficult. She let it be known on Sunday evening that she was staying in the race, presenting herself as the one who could unite the party. If she obtains the necessary support and remains despite her rival’s advance, the members will have to decide between them by a vote in line by Friday. Otherwise, Rishi Sunak could be appointed Prime Minister as soon as Monday evening, the fifth since the 2016 Brexit referendum, which opened a page of economic and political turbulence in the United Kingdom. This grandson of Indian immigrants would then be the first non-white in this position in the country. “We will always be grateful” to Boris Johnson, he declared Sunday evening on Twitter, recalling that his former boss, with whom he had been at loggerheads for months, had been the man of Brexit, that of the large-scale implementation of a vaccination campaign against Covid, and had led the country during “some of its most difficult challenges difficult”. He also mentioned his support for Ukraine since the invasion of Russia.”I would have had a good chance”Boris Johnson nevertheless said he was convinced that he would have had, if he had chosen to to be a candidate, “a good chance (…) to return to Downing Street”, from which he had resigned in July, pushed out by dozens of resignations in his government, including that of Rishi Sunak. He also said he was “well placed” to lead his camp in the next legislative elections scheduled for two years. Even if they do not support him, many Conservative MPs have taken care to profess their affection for Boris Johnson, an eternal optimist who remains popular with the party base. But for many, including in his camp, he is too controversial to return to power. Especially since he is still the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, which is due to start soon, to establish whether he lied to parliament about the “partygate”, these illegal parties in Downing Street during the anti-Covid confinement. Rishi Sunak, guardian of budgetary orthodoxy and workaholic, appears to them as a better choice as the country goes through a serious economic and social crisis, further aggravated by the calamitous mistakes of Liz Truss which destabilized the markets and caused the book. The former finance minister had also regularly denounced Liz Truss’s economic plan this summer. With AFP