With acknowledgments to Harry Cole and James Heale‘s Out of the Blue: the Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss
For the second time in the year, the Conservative Party entered a leadership election. Rishi Sunak became the first candidate to reach the threshold of 100 supporters, including backing from Kemi Badenoch and Steve Barclay. Boris Johnson returned from holiday to rally support for a return to Number 10, receiving the backing of Lee Anderson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Priti Patel, amongst others.
On the Saturday, Sunak and Johnson held eleventh-hour talks, on the initiative of the latter, to see about uniting as a single ticket, with Johnson returning as Prime Minister and Sunak returning as Chancellor. Sunak was unwilling to agree. As of the evening, it was unsure whether the former Prime Minister would enter the contest. Penny Mordaunt – a previous also ran- also sought support.
With acknowledgments to Harry Cole and James Heale‘s Out of the Blue: the Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss