BREAKING: Boris Johnson Drops Out Of Race For PM

So much for the post before this one.

The BBC reports:

This is a huge development. I’ve been on the phone tonight to Boris Johnson backers and they were convinced he’d stand. Tonight, confirmation he won’t. In his statement, Mr Johnson says he thinks he could have won the membership and been in Downing St by Friday.

But he concedes he would struggle to unite his party in parliament. The former prime minister says he got 102 backers. We can’t verify this, the public number is lower and we may never know for sure. It’s safe to say many MPs are sceptical he had the number his campaign says.

This all makes Rishi Sunak the firm favourite. But Penny Mordaunt will be trying over the next few hours to win over Mr Johnson’s backers and show she has a significant chunk of Tory MPs behind her.

Read the full article.

Boris Johnson pulls out of Conservative leadership race https://t.co/6lbfBMiJne

— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 23, 2022

Boris Johnson drops out of race to be UK Conservative Party leader and PM – follow live updates https://t.co/MeuMirLS9K

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 23, 2022

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Boris Johnson drops out of the Conservative leadership race.

Rishi Sunak could be crowned the new leader at 2pm tomorrow. https://t.co/tTw6AS1TZb

— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) October 23, 2022