Rishi Sunak looked set to become next Prime Minister of
Britain after Boris Johnson withdrew from the contest on Sunday. Although he
enjoys enough support to make the final ballot he realizes the country and the
Conservative Party needed unity.
If
chosen, Sunak would be the first prime minister of Indian origin in
the United Kingdom.
Johnson had raced home from a holiday in the Caribbean to
try and secure the backing of 100 lawmakers to enter Monday's contest to
replace Liz Truss, the woman who succeeded him in September after he was forced
to quit over a string of scandals.
He said he had secured the backing of 102 lawmakers and
could have been "back in Downing Street", but that he had failed to
persuade either Sunak, or the other contender Penny Mordaunt, to come together
"in the national interest".
"I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that
this is simply not the right time," Johnson said late on Sunday.
The
former prime minister had secured the public backing of just under 60
Conservative lawmakers by Sunday, well under half of the nearly 150
endorsements Sunak had received.
Johnson's statement likely paves the way for his arch rival,
the 42-year-old former finance minister Sunak, to become prime minister,
possibly as soon as Monday. If confirmed, he would replace Truss who was forced
to resign after she launched an economic program that triggered turmoil on
financial markets.
According
to the rules, if only one candidate secures the backing of 100 Conservative
lawmakers, they will be named prime minister on Monday.
If two candidates pass the threshold, they will go forward
to a vote of the party membership, with the winner announced on Friday, just
days before new finance minister Jeremy Hunt lays bare the state of the
country's finances in a budget plan due to be released on October 31, 2022.
That had raised concerns that Johnson would return to
Downing Street with the backing of the party members, and not a majority of
lawmakers in parliament, leaving the party badly divided. Hunt declared his
backing for Sunak late on Sunday.
Some
Johnson supporters could switch to Mordaunt, who has presented herself as the
unity candidate, but many immediately switched to Sunak. A source close to the
Mordaunt campaign said the former defence minister would continue in the
contest.
"She
is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the
Conservative Party together," the source said.
Johnson has loomed large over British politics ever since he
became mayor of London in 2008 and went on to become the face of the Brexit
vote in 2016. While he led the Conservative Party to a landslide election in
2019, he was forced out just three years later by a rebellion of his ministers.
Sunak said he hoped Johnson would continue to contribute to
public life "at home and abroad".
One Sunak supporter, who asked not to be named, said his
main reaction was relief because if Johnson had won the "party would have
torn itself apart".
Another Conservative lawmaker Lucy Allan said on Twitter:
"I backed Boris for PM, but I think he has done the right thing for the
country."
Other Johnson backers immediately jumped ship.
Cabinet office minister Nadhim Zahawi, who minutes earlier
had published an article on the Daily Telegraph website praising Johnson, said
"a day is a long time in politics".
"Rishi is immensely talented, will command a strong
majority in the parliamentary Conservative Party, and will have my full support
and loyalty," he said.
Earlier,
many of the Conservative lawmakers who normally back Johnson switched their
support to Sunak, saying the country needed a period of stability after months
of turmoil that has sparked headlines - and raised alarm - around the world.
Johnson is also still facing a privileges committee investigation
into whether he misled parliament over Downing Street parties during COVID-19
lockdowns. He could be forced to resign or be suspended from office if found
guilty.
Sunak
first came to national attention when, aged 39, he became finance minister
under Johnson just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Britain, developing a
furlough scheme to support millions of people through multiple lockdowns.
"I served as your chancellor, helping to steer our
economy through the toughest of times," Sunak said in a statement on
Sunday. "The challenges we face now are even greater. But the
opportunities - if we make the right choice - are phenomenal."
His family migrated to Britain in the 1960s, a period when
many people from Britain's former colonies arrived to help rebuild the country
after the Second World War.
After graduating from Oxford University, he later went to
Stanford University where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, whose father is
Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy, founder of outsourcing giant Infosys
Ltd.