LONDON: Former prime minister Boris Johnson on Saturday returned to Britain from a holiday to launch an audacious political comeback, as Conservative leadership rival Rishi Sunak reached the minimum threshold to contest the UK’s top job.
Johnson cut short a Caribbean trip to join the race to replace outgoing leader Liz Truss, with allies telling British media he was “up for it”.
The divisive 58-year-old Brexit architect only handed over power in early September, two months after announcing his resignation following a Tory revolt over a slew of scandals.
His apparent bid to return to office just weeks later has already been decried by opposition politicians, and even some in his own fractured ruling party who argue that both it and the country need stability and unity.
“We’ve got to go forward, not go back,” Dominic Raab — Boris Johnson’s deputy prime minister — told Sky News, adding an imminent parliamentary inquiry into the “Partygate” scandal that dogged his former boss could prove too distracting.
Raab said former finance minister Sunak’s economic experience meant he was the “standout candidate”.
The Tories were forced into a second, this time expedited, leadership contest since the summer after Truss dramatically announced Thursday she would stand down — just 44 tempestuous days into her tenure.
It followed a disastrous tax-slashing mini-budget that sparked economic and political turmoil which had been predicted by Sunak.
Late Friday, Sunak’s allies in parliament said he had garnered the nominations of 100 Conservative MPs, the threshold set by the party to stand.
However, both Sunak and Johnson are yet to announce they are running, leaving it to allies to signal their intent.
Cabinet member Penny Mordaunt, who just missed out on making the final runoff after Boris Johnson quit, became the first to formally declare her candidacy again Friday.
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