Boris Johnson exit clears the way for Rishi Sunak to be British PM

Britain’s new PM is almost certainly going to be Rishi Sunak after Boris Johnson decided not to nominate for the Conservative party leadership.

Rishi Sunak leaves his office in Westminster after winning the public endorsement of more than 150 Tory MPs. Picture: Getty Images

Britain is almost certainly to get its first person of colour as prime minister after Boris Johnson on Sunday night withdrew from the race for the Conservative party leadership, clearing the way for former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak.

The former hedge fund manager formally announced on Sunday that he was standing for the leadership after winning the public endorsement of more than 150 Tory MPs, making him the frontrunner to replace Liz Truss.

The only candidate standing in the 42-year-old’s way was House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, who declared her bid on Friday. However with the support of only about 25 MPs, she would need a chunk Mr Johnson’s 76 backers, many of whom have thrown their support behind Mr Sunak, and then a few more to reach the required threshold of 100 MPs.

If Ms Mordaunt, 49, fails to get the threshold Mr Sunak will be become Tory leader and be sworn in as prime minister. If Ms Mordaunt reaches the threshold, she and Mr Sunak will be put to an electronic ballot of grassroots Tory members and a result will be announced on Friday. Candidates have until 2pm (midnight AEST) to secure the 100 nominations, which had limited the ballot to a maximum of three candidates.

Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson, 58, met on Saturday night for 2½ hours but failed to reach an agreement on a joint ticket. The former prime minister also failed to secure a deal with Ms Mordaunt.

The former chancellor’s pitch to members will be based on fiscal responsibility. He will argue that one of the reasons he resigned from cabinet in July was because Mr Johnson was set to enact many of the measures later delivered in Ms Truss’s disastrous mini-budget last month.

Mr Johnson said he decided not to run despite having been “overwhelmed by the number of people who said I should once again contest the leadership” and insisting he had the 100 backers. In a statement, Mr Johnson said he could not govern effectively unless there was “a unity party” in the parliament. He believed he could have helped avert a fresh general election and would have been best placed to lead the party at the next general election, due in 2024.

An Oxford economics graduate, Mr Sunak was a Fulbright scholar at California’s Stanford University, where he met his ­future wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of the Indian billionaire and founder of Infosys, Narayana Murthy. She is one of the wealthiest women in Britain.

A fed-up British public is lukewarm towards Mr Sunak, because – like Mr Johnson – he has not been free of controversy. He was fined over the partygate scandal, in which Downing Street aides broke pandemic lockdown rules. Mr Sunak had attended the same brief gathering to celebrate Mr Johnson’s birthday, and was given a fixed penalty notice from police.

In 2020 he was also investigated, and then cleared of any ministerial impropriety, concerning the timing of declarations of his family’s $3bn shareholding in Infosys. Then having put up corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent while chancellor, it was revealed Mr Sunak’s wife had legally avoided paying about $35m in British tax by paying an annual fee of $50,000 to maintain a “non-domiciled” status in the country. After that furore, Mrs Sunak issued a statement saying she would pay UK taxes on her global income and she didn’t want it to be a “distraction for my husband”.

Mr Sunak’s critics point out that much of the country’s economic woes stems from his overly generous and extended furlough scheme during the pandemic, unaccounted billions that were spent on unnecessary personal protection equipment and his plans for a green tax.

His resignation from cabinet triggered the exodus of about 60 members of the ministry, forcing out Mr Johnson. Then followed the self-indulgent three-month leadership campaign between Ms Truss and Mr Sunak at a time that the cost of living was soaring.

Rishi Sunak, left, is a clear favourite to become the next British prime minister after former PM Boris Johnson withdrew from the race to succeed Liz Truss. Picture: AFP

Assuming Mr Sunak wins the leadership, he will face an angry electorate amid rising inflation, soaring costs of borrowing, fluctuating financial markets and an ­energy crisis.

Suella Braverman, who was sacked as home secretary by Ms Truss, wrote in the London Telegraph she was supporting Mr Sunak because he had told her he would stop the boats crossing the Channel – and the resulting $10m-a-day costs of paying asylum-seeker hotel accommodation – by limiting the impact of Modern Slavery laws, the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights to deliver the Rwanda Scheme of deporting asylum-seekers.

“On other matters too, we need to take a firm line on trans ideology in our schools and in our public sector for the safeguarding of our children cannot be compromised,” Ms Braverman said.

It has been suggested a Sunak government would freeze defence spending, remove guarantees around pensions and reverse pledges to reduce income tax by maintaining it at the current level.