Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Twitter on Sunday his candidacy to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in order to “recover” the country’s economy and “unite” the Conservative Party.
“I am running to be the leader of the Conservative Party and its next prime minister,” he announced.
“The UK is a great country but we are facing a deep economic crisis,” he wrote, while Boris Johnson has yet to start.
He could now succeed Liz Truss after she resigned this week after just 44 days in office.
The first to have collected the necessary sponsorships
The 42-year-old Conservative is the first to have passed the threshold of 100 sponsorships required on Friday night to hope to take the lead from the Conservative Party and thus win Downing Street.
The former minister was beaten in early September by Liz Truss in the race for Downing Street. Her resignation from the Johnson government, followed by some sixty others, led to the Brexiteer’s.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has not yet officially declared himself a candidate but has also passed 100, according to one of his allies in Parliament, James Duddridge, but this has not been confirmed. And he is still far behind in the media that do the counting.
According to the Guido Fawkes site, which closely follows the ups and downs of the race, Rishi Sunak had 123 sponsorships on Saturday afternoon, ahead of Boris Johnson (72) and Penny Mordaunt (25). Candidates have until Monday afternoon to obtain these sponsorships.
Source: BFM TV
