Boris Johnson Pulls Out Of UK PM Contest

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pulled out of the Tory party leadership race, thus paving a path to the UK premiership for his former chancellor Rishi Sunak, currently the contest’s favorite.(RT)

In a statement released on Sunday evening, Johnson said that he had cleared “the very high hurdle of 102 nominations” from MPs and could “indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday,” and would be “well placed” to bring his party a victory at the 2024 general election.

"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,” Johnson explained.

Rishi Sunak Could Become UK PM Monday!

With BoJo pulling out of the race there are now 179 MPs reportedly backing the ex-chancellor - far more that the 100 required to take part in the ballot of party members. (Sky News)

Boris Johnson put an abrupt end to his comeback tour last night - saying it was “simply not the right time.”  Penny Mordaunt remains Sunak’s only challenger but is some way off securing 100 backers. The deadline for her to find backers ends early Monday afternoon.

The pound rallied against the US dollar Monday morning as UK-born son of Indian-origin Sunak became the clear favourite for PM. Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law predicted the market turmoil Liz Truss’ mandate would bring during leadership debates in the summer.