Just days after Liz Truss announced her resignation, Boris Johnson backed out of the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Johnson had been considered a favorite to win the contest, but he claimed in a statement that he would not be able to govern effectively without the support of a majority of MPs. This latest development is sure to add more fuel to the fire in an already tumultuous time for British politics.
The race to replace Truss as leader of the Conservative Party has been underway for less than a week, but it has already been fraught with drama.
Allies of Johnson, who resigned in disgrace after months of scandal wrecked his reputation, started clamoring for his return in the wake of Truss’s resignation last week. The ex-PM flew back from a Caribbean holiday to court favor among his colleagues.
But that effort backfired. Johnson backed out of the contest on Sunday evening, after a weekend of reported meetings with the other contestants. In a characteristically hubristic statement, Johnson claimed he had enough support to run and insisted there was “a very good chance” he would win the competition.
But he said he had concluded that running “would simply not be the right thing to do,” because he wouldn’t be able to govern effectively without the support of a majority of MPs.
This latest development will no doubt add more turmoil to an already chaotic time in British politics. With Brexit negotiations ongoing and no clear end in sight, it remains to be seen who will step up to lead the country through this tumultuous period.
Boris Johnson’s withdrawal from the Conservative leadership race has added yet another layer of chaos to an already turbulent time in British politics.
