LONDON – Boris Johnson was fighting for enough support on Sunday to make a surprise return as Britain’s prime minister after prominent figures on the Conservative Party’s right-wing rallied around the man once accused of betraying him, Rishi Sunak.
Johnson served as Prime Minister from 2019 to 2022 before being forced to resign due to a series of scandals. Former supporters are now urging him to withdraw from the race to replace his predecessor, Liz Truss, who served only six weeks.
Johnson is still being investigated over whether he misled parliament during his previous tenure, and several former supporters have stated that this would guarantee a return to the constant state of drama that accompanied his previous premiership.
“This isn’t the time for Boris’s style,” Steve Baker, an influential lawmaker on the right of the party, told Sky News. “I’m afraid the trouble is because of the privileges vote, Boris would be a guaranteed disaster.”
Britain has been thrown into a new political crisis after Truss was forced to resign over an economic policy that shook financial markets, raising borrowing costs and mortgage rates at a time when energy and food prices are skyrocketing.
This has paved the way for a new leader, with Sunak, the former finance minister, Johnson, and former defence minister Penny Mordaunt vying for the support of 100 lawmakers in a ballot to become the next prime minister on Monday.
The prospect of another Johnson premiership has polarised many Conservative Party members, who are deeply divided after losing four prime ministers in six years.
For some Conservative lawmakers, Johnson is a vote-winner, able to appeal across the country with his celebrity image and brand of energetic optimism. For others he is a toxic figure who would struggle to unite the party and so might undermine efforts to build a stable leadership to calm rattled financial markets.
Deeply Unpopular
Sunak is well ahead in the race to secure lawmaker backing, with the BBC putting his support at 129 declarations, and Johnson on 53.
He 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.
He remains deeply unpopular with large parts of the party membership, however, after he quit Johnson’s government in July, helping to trigger a rebellion that brought him down.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the minister for Northern Ireland, said Johnson did have enough supporters to enter the ballot on Monday. “We do have the numbers,” he told Sky News. “That’s not an issue.”
Johnson was given a boost on Sunday when Nadhim Zahawi, who was briefly finance minister earlier this year, backed him to return to Downing Street.
“When I was Chancellor, I saw a preview of what Boris 2.0 would look like,” he said on Twitter. “He was contrite and honest about his mistakes. He’d learned from those mistakes how he could run Number 10 and the country better.
“With a unified team behind him, he is the one to lead us to victory and prosperity.”
Johnson and Sunak met on Saturday evening, according to reports. The Times political editor said they had not agreed any deal, and that Johnson had told his supporters on Sunday morning that he wanted to a form a new government.
Mordaunt, with the declared backing of 23 lawmakers, said she was confident about the progress she was making and was very much in the race to win. She said a report that she had discussed pulling out with Johnson in return for the promise of a job was “completely false”.
Under the rules, if only one candidate passes the threshold of 100 lawmakers on Monday then they will be declared as prime minister. If more than one clears the hurdle, they will face a vote of around 170,000 signed-up members of the Conservative Party, with the winner announced on Friday. – Reuters
New Malaysia Herald publishes articles, comments and posts from various contributors. We always welcome new content and write up. If you would like to contribute please contact us at : editor@newmalaysiaherald.com
Facebook Comments
Facebook Comments