Former prime minister Boris Johnson has dropped out of the Conservative leadership race due to lack of support compared to the front-runner former finance minister Rishi Sunak.
“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.”
– Boris Johnson, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
On Sunday, Johnson had persuaded 102 Conservative lawmakers to back him, while Sunak had the support from 142.
A contender is required to have 100 backers by Monday in order to proceed to the next stage, which would be a vote by the Conservative Party’s 170,000 members.
