Britain’s Conservative leadership rivals Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak held late-night talks, sources said on Sunday, as the feuding political heavyweights struggled behind the scenes to lead their fragmented ruling party.
Both are yet to declare they will run to replace outgoing Tory leader Liz Truss and have not made any public statements as she announced on Thursday her imminent departure after just 44 tumultuous days into her tenure.
Amid mounting acrimony within the fragmented Tories, Cabinet Member Penny Mordaunt – the first and so far only candidate to officially declare herself – insisted she was the MP capable of bringing the party together.
“I think I’m in the best position to unite our party,” the 49-year-old told the BBC, adding that she was “the middle ground” between Sunak and Truss in the latest leadership competition, which ended just seven weeks ago .
Mordaunt narrowly missed the runoff and fell short of eight MP votes.
Former Prime Minister Johnson and ex-Treasury Secretary Sunak are said to be campaigning hard for Conservative peers ahead of a deadline on Monday to get the 100 nominations needed to face a vote by Tory MPs.
Sunak has led the way, with the 42-year-old crossing that threshold on Friday and currently boasting the public support of 129 Tory lawmakers, according to a BBC tally.
That compares to Johnson’s 53 and 23 for Mordaunt, although the ex-leader’s allies insist he has already racked up the 100 nominations.
“We have the numbers,” reiterated Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris on Sunday, telling Sky News the ex-PM was “curious to see what the Parliamentary Party thinks”.
– ‘Guaranteed Catastrophe’ –
If two candidates remain after MPs vote on Monday, the Conservative Party’s roughly 170,000 members can make their choice next week, with Johnson still believed to be the grassroots favourite.
The Tories have been forced into this second, now accelerated, leadership contest since the summer after Truss resigned after their disastrous, tax-cutting mini-budget sparked economic and political turmoil.
Johnson, 58, cut short a luxury holiday in the Caribbean to return to Britain on Saturday, attempting a bold political comeback just weeks after leaving office.
The divisive Brexit architect only relinquished power in early September, two months after announcing his resignation following a government revolt over a series of scandals.
He reportedly met for several hours on Saturday night with Sunak, whose resignation contributed to his downfall in July, to discuss the competition.
Few details have emerged about what The Sun dubbed a “secret summit”. The Sunday Times said it started at 20:00 (1900 GMT) and resumed at 23:00 “hoping to bury the hatchet and negotiate a deal to govern together”.
“We’re all waiting for white smoke,” one of the newspaper’s allies told the newspaper.
– “chaos” –
Johnson’s apparent attempt to return to Downing Street has already been condemned by opposition politicians and even some in his own party who are calling for stability and unity.
“This is not the time for Boris,” Sunak-supporting Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker told Sky News, arguing another Johnson-led government “would be a guaranteed disaster” and implode within months.
“The voters out there love him and he’s a wonderful man – but he doesn’t exactly follow boring rules,” he added.
Sunak also received key support from Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch, an influential right-wing and prominent Brexiteer who came fourth in the last leadership competition.
In a resounding swipe at Johnson in the Sunday Times, she warned of “nostalgia for the reckless panache of 2019” – when it won an 80-seat majority – and said the Conservative Party “is not a vehicle for a person’s personal ambitions”.
Other senior Tories are pushing for unity.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who said on Friday he tends to support Johnson, implored the three contenders to form a ruling trio and told the same newspaper it was “not the time for political infighting”.
Meanwhile, Heaton-Harris welcomed talks between Johnson and Sunak on Saturday night.
“It’s really important for the party to unite… I want these talks between Rishi and Boris to continue,” he said.
New polls released on Sunday showed the Tories could benefit from a change in leadership after Truss’ missteps plunged them to an unprecedented low.
But Conservative pollster James Johnson’s poll still found all three Tory candidates in negative favor, with Johnson coming in at -24, Mordaunt at -15 and Sunak at -2.
The main Labor opposition, which has garnered huge poll numbers, is calling for new elections.
“The country needs to clean up this mess,” its leader Keir Starmer told the BBC.
