‘Back anyone, but Sunak’: UK PM Boris Johnson to allies

LONDON: As the race to become Britain’s next prime minister accelerates, prime minister Boris Johnson is said to have told his allies to back “anyone but Rishi”. Sunak“, according to media reports on Friday.
Johnson, who resigned as leader of the ruling Conservative Party on July 7, urged the Tory’s defeated leadership candidates not to support former prime minister Sunak, who was blamed for Johnson’s death. support among members of his party, The Times reported.
Johnson, who has said he will not endorse any leadership candidate or publicly interfere in the campaign, is said to have held conversations with failed candidates to succeed him. and urged Sunak not to become prime minister.
A source close to one of the conversations said the incumbent prime minister was most concerned about Liz Truss, the Secretary of State, who was supported by his fiercest cabinet allies, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries, approved.
Johnson is also said to be open to Penny Mordaunt, junior commerce minister, succeeding him in place of Sunak.
According to reports, Prime Minister Johnson’s carer and his camp are running a hidden “anyone but Rishi” campaign after feeling betrayed that the former Prime Minister’s resignation forced him out of No 10. Downing Street.
“All 10s” [Downing Street] the team hates Rishi. That is personal. It’s vitriolic. They don’t blame Saj [Sajid Javid] for knocking him down. They blame Rishi. They think he’s been planning this for months,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.
Sunak, the winner of the first two rounds of voting by Tory members of Parliament, will appear in a series of televised debates over the weekend with his remaining opponents – Commerce Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, former Minister Kemi Badenoch and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat.
An ally of Johnson denied claims he wanted “anyone but Rishi” to win but admitted that the outgoing prime minister had harbored grievances about Sunak’s “betrayal”.
Meanwhile, Sunak’s camp has made suggestions that his strong support does not extend beyond Tory MPs.
“I think he’s really going to start connecting and hopefully we can step away and come up with a more positive vision of Conservative-based attacks, which I really don’t like” , said Richard Holden, a pro-Sunak MP for Tory.