Boris’s plan for rapid return to office fails over unity concerns

BORIS Johnson dropped out of the race to be Prime Minister on Sunday despite claiming he had received more than 100 nominations.

The former PM said he had “reached out” to leadership rivals Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt to see if they could work together in the national interest, but it had not proved possible

In a statement, he insisted he had secured the 100 nominations needed to get onto the ballot paper – and that if he stood there was a “very good chance” he would be back in Downing Street by the end of the week.

He said: “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.”

He continued: “And though I have reached out to both Rishi and Penny – because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest – we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this.

“Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds.”

Earlier, allies of Ms Mordaunt disclosed that Mr Johnson had urged her to stand aside and back his campaign – something she refused to do.

Mr Johnson’s withdrawal left the election to replace Liz Truss a coronation for Mr Sunak after Ms Mordaunt stepped aside just before Monday’s 2pm deadline for nominations.

GARETH FULLER/PA WIRE Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured arriving at Gatwick Airport at the weekend after he flew in from holiday to try and win back power