Penny Mordaunt Pressed To Quit UK Leader Race As Rishi Sunak Gains
Penny Mordaunt is facing calls privately from members of her own campaign team to pull out of the UK leadership race.
(Bloomberg) -- Penny Mordaunt is facing calls from supporters and members of her own campaign team to pull out of the UK leadership race as Rishi Sunak piles up support in his efforts to become the next prime minister.
Mordaunt is locked in talks with Members of Parliament from the ruling Conservative Party to obtain the 100 nominations she needs to go forward to the final ballot before a 2 p.m. deadline. She told her closest allies she’s serious about standing and can reach the threshold, people familiar with the discussions said, asking not to be named. On Monday morning, a spokesperson for Mordaunt’s campaign said she had more than 90 backers.
Some MPs on her team have told her she should pull out, arguing that Sunak’s clear majority among Tory MPs means it would be impossible for her to form a stable government. Sunak took a huge step toward victory after he picked up backing from some MPs who were behind Prime Minister Boris Johnson until he abruptly pulled out of the contest last night.
Sunak, a former chancellor of the exchequer whose resignation in July helped trigger Johnson’s ultimate downfall, gained the public support of several key Tory figures on Sunday including Grant Shapps and -- on the right of the party -- Suella Braverman. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly joined them early on Monday along with Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt.
Sunak has public support from 180 lawmakers, more than half the parliamentary Tory party, compared with 26 for Mordaunt, according to Bloomberg’s tally. Johnson topped out 51 named backers, but said in his statement he had the support of 102 MPs, enough in theory to have taken the contest to a ballot of party members who have sided with Johnson in the past.
The issue now is how many of Johnson’s camp, including Brexit hardliners such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, throw their lot in with Mordaunt and ensure the race runs beyond Monday. Mark Francois, a spokesman for the pro-Brexit ERG group of Tory MPs, said Monday that his faction had been unable to decide which candidate to back and would not be voting as a block.
According to odds at political betting site Smarkets, Sunak is a near certainty to become Britain’s fourth prime minister in three years.
George Freeman, an early backer of Mordaunt’s candidacy, said on Monday that even if she reaches the 100-vote threshold to formally enter the race Mordaunt should step aside and back Sunak. One of the lessons from Liz Truss’s brief tenure as prime minister is that it is difficult and dangerous to try to govern without the support of the parliamentary party, even if you have the backing of Tory party members.
Whoever wins faces the task of trying to bring unity to a party that has been through months of upheaval and bruising public infighting. Conservative support has fallen well behind the Labour opposition in polls as a brutal cost-of-living squeeze and soaring inflation darkens the economic outlook.
UK bonds surged at Monday’s open on expectations that a potential Sunak premiership would be better qualified at trying to fix the nation’s finances.
Sunak will “turn the page on what went wrong, take decisions in the national interest and rebuild the extraordinary potential of our economy,” Hunt said in a column for the Telegraph late Sunday.
If Mordaunt qualifies for the race and insists on fighting on, party members will have the final say in an online vote, with a result due on Friday.
Johnson didn’t endorse anyone, saying he’d support whoever wins. While Sunak has a commanding lead, his coronation isn’t necessarily clear cut and there are some scenarios where Mordaunt could emerge as the favorite of Tory members.
Earlier in the summer, Sunak lost to Truss in the leadership battle to replace Johnson, with Tory members concerned about his role in Johnson’s downfall and his decision to raise taxes to the highest level since World War II. There’s also unease about his personal wealth and his aggressive attacks on Truss during that contest.
--With assistance from .
(Updates with latest statement from Mordaunt campaign in second paragraph.)
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