After Liz Truss resigned last week after serving for 45 days as prime minister, Rishi Sunak, the former head of the British Treasury, is in the lead for the position. On Sunday, 128 Conservative lawmakers gave their support to Sunak.
Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, was trailing Sunak with only 53 supporters as of Sunday. The BBC reports that Sunak and Johnson have been in discussions, raising the possibility that they are working on a plan to unify the party after a difficult time following Brexit. Neither Sunak nor Johnson have verified what was discussed. Johnson would not, however, be running, it was announced Sunday night.
Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, was the first to declare her intention to compete for the position of next prime minister; however, as of Sunday, she had only 23 MPs backing her.
Before Sunak announced on Sunday that he was formally running for prime minister, there was support for him. On Twitter, he declared: “Our Party’s decision now will determine whether the next generation of British citizens has more possibilities than the previous one. I am running to be the Conservative Party’s next prime minister because of this. He said, “Fix our economy, bring our party together, and deliver for our country.”
After a string of resignations from her cabinet, soaring inflation, and increasing party rifts, Truss announced her resignation. On Thursday, Truss stated, “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”
In the contest to defeat Johnson, Truss triumphed over Sunak in September.
Truss’ brief tenure as prime minister—just over six weeks—was the shortest in British history. This led to a flurry of memes, one of which posed the question: Which will last longer, a head of lettuce or Liz Truss as a leader? Unbelievably, Truss was the first since Winston Churchill to hold office during the reigns of two kings.
If only one contender receives 100 nominations by Monday at 14:00 BST, a new prime minister may be named that evening. This will be the third prime minister to lead the UK in 2018.
