LAST UPDATE | 23 Oct 2022

BORIS JOHNSON HAS ruled himself out of the race to become UK Prime Minister. 

He confirmed tonight he would not stand for the Tory leadership, saying that despite having the support of enough MPs to run, he had come to the conclusion “this would simply not be the right thing to do” as “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament”.

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced earlier today that he will run and is seen as the frontrunner ahead of Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt who announced her candidacy on Friday. 

Sunak has already secured 147 publicly declared votes – well clear of the 100 votes necessary from Conservative MPs to be selected to stand. Mordaunt was tallying around 24 votes today. 

Johnson’s backers had been claiming he had made the 100 vote tally – but as of this evening just over fifty Tory MPs had publicly declared in his favour. 

In his statement tonight Johnson – who resigned in disgrace after scores of ministers and other appointees resigned from his Government in July of this year – insisted he had the backing of 102 members.

The former prime minister insisted he would have been well-placed to deliver election success for his party – but went on to concede that he wouldn’t be competing this time around. 

“I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 – and tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow.

“There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members – and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday.

“But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.”

Talks between the three prospective PMs’ camps have been taking place over the weekend, and in his statement Johnson said that due to the failure to reach a deal with Sunak and Mordaunt, “I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds”.

“I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”

Under the leadership rules candidates have until 2pm tomorrow to get the necessary nominations.

If only one candidate remains in contention they will become Tory leader and go on to be prime minister. If two candidates remain and no-one then withdraws the decision will be put out to party members around the UK. 

Electronic voting would then take place, with the final result to be announced on Friday. 

Tonight’s developments make it more likely there will be only one candidate – Sunak – left in the race by tomorrow evening, negating the need for a party membership vote. 

‘Disaster’

Sunak today became the second contender formally to declare he is standing, promising to “fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country” at a time of “profound economic crisis”.

Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker earlier warned that Johnson – who still faces a Commons inquiry into whether he misled Parliament over lockdown parties in Downing Street – would be a “guaranteed disaster”.

“There’s going to be a vote before the House of Commons on this issue of privileges, whether he deliberately misled the House,” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

In that vote it’s guaranteed there’ll be a large number of Conservatives who will refuse, as they see it, to lay down their integrity to save him, and at that moment his premiership will collapse.

Baker, an ardent Brexiteer, was one of two senior figures on the right along with former home secretary Suella Braverman to declare for Sunak today.

Here at home, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said it was frustrating to have to deal with so many personnel changes at the top of the UK Government. 

Asked about the latest Tory race on RTÉ Radio 1′s This Week programme, he said: “That is a recipe for instability and it is difficult to build relationships and build trust to find compromises on difficult and complex issues.”