Gb, Sunak strengthens towards Tory leadership

Rishi Sunak approaches the goal of Tory leadership. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer can count on the support of 182 Conservative MPs, more than half of the total, Sky News reports. Former interior minister and Bojo’s to-the-last supporter, Priti Patel, and former minister for leveling inequalities Gove, have urged other party members to unite around Sunak’s candidacy, in order to close the game quickly, without having to wait for the vote of all members on Friday. Read about her too But rival Penny Mordaunt does not give up and continues to look for deputies in support of her to reach the quota of one hundred necessary to obtain the nomination. “You are in the running to win,” said a spokeswoman for the leader of the House of Commons. Sources from the Mordaunt campaign claim 90 endorsements from Tory MPs. But only about thirty of them have spoken out publicly. Time is running out: from 2 pm (3 pm in Italy) only those who have at least 100 endorsements remain in the race. Since Johnson threw in the towel last night, two other former ministers, James Cleverly and Nadhim Zahawi, have also expressed their support for Sunak. And so did the iron ‘Johnsonian’ Andrew Stephenson. Sunak could count on the support of at least 155 Tory deputies. “In these difficult times for our country, we must unite by putting public service ahead of everything else and work together. We care about our country and with the enormous challenges facing us we must put aside political differences and give to Rishi Sunak the best chance of success, ”Patel wrote. “It is now time for the Conservative Party to unite around Rishi Sunak. We face great challenges and national interest requires us to demonstrate resolve and fortitude with new leadership,” Gove said.