Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak met on Saturday to try to reach an agreement in the race for Conservative Party leadership, the BBC and other British media outlets said.
Neither has officially announced their candidacy to succeed Liz Truss, who resigned after 44 days on Downing Street, succumbing to pressure after her mini-budget wrecked the UK economy.
Johnson returned from a vacation in the Dominican Republic this Saturday and will have spent the afternoon seeking support from conservative MPs (he needs at least 100) to walk. It already has 53 declared supporters, despite its allies claiming it actually already has the necessary supporters.
Sunak, whose resignation from Johnson’s government was one of those culminating in the resignation of the former prime minister in July, has already crossed that line, has at least 128 recommendations, according to BBC accounts.
Only Penny Mordaunt, the conservative leader of the House of Commons, has officially advanced in the race to succeed Truss. However, according to BBC accounts, it still only has 23 supports. The deadline ends on Monday at 2 p.m.
Tonight’s meeting will be the first between the two since Sunak’s resignation from the Johnson administration.
Little is known about the meeting, which The Sun called a “secret summit” and “The Sunday Times” said it was still taking place at 9 p.m. According to The Sunday Telegraph, the meeting was intended to discuss “a joint alliance” and prevent a “civil war” within the Conservative Party.
Source: DN
