(Washington Examiner) Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Sunday that he is pulling out of the race to replace Liz Truss as Conservative Party chief, which would have returned him to his old job.
Johnson made the announcement three days after his successor Liz Truss resigned from the position after just 44 days in office, saying in a statement that he had realized in recent days that he was not currently capable of uniting the Parliament. Johnson claimed to have the support of as many as 102 fellow members of Parliament for his historic second bid, though only 57 MPs offered that support publicly.
“There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members — and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday,” Johnson said in a statement. “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.”
Boris Johnson is seen in Buckinghamshire, England, on Wednesday Aug. 31, 2022.
(Andrew Boyers/PA via AP)
