JOHNSON TIPPED TO RUN INTERFERENCE

LONDON: Rishi Sunak’s team fears that Boris Johnson will try to interfere in the Conservative leadership election to prevent his former chancellor of the exchequer succeeding him in Downing Street.

A member of Mr Sunak’s campaign said it was “clear” that Mr Johnson had “no intention of standing by” and would attempt to undermine him against Liz Truss.

“Boris will be seeking to cause trouble for Rishi,” the person said.

“That much was clear from prime minister’s questions. That is something we are going to have to counter.”

In his final prime minister’s questions on Wednesday (local time), Mr Johnson urged his successor to “cut taxes and deregulate”, and warned them against “always” listening to the Treasury.

The comments were interpreted as a clear dig at Mr Sunak, who was chancellor for more than two years and has said that tackling inflation is a greater priority than tax cuts.

It was reported last week that Mr Johnson had been urging defeated leadership candidates to back “anyone but Rishi”, after Mr Sunak’s resignation as chancellor helped to precipitate his downfall.

Many of Mr Johnson’s most committed supporters, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, were early supporters of Ms Truss’s campaign.

Mr Johnson declared “mission largely accomplished” in his address.

He said: “I want to use the last few seconds to give some words of advice to my successor, whoever he or she may be. Number one: stay close to the Americans. Stick up for the Ukrainians, stick up for freedom and democracy everywhere.”