Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the Conservative leadership election to be concluded by next Friday following the resignation of Liz Truss, according to The Times’ political editor, Steven Swinford.
Swinford tweeted on Thursday that he had been told the former Conservative leader, still hugely popular among the party’s grassroots membership, is understood to be “taking soundings” and believes his candidacy is “a matter of national interest.”
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Truss resigned after just 45 days in the job on Thursday, telling the country in a statement outside 10 Downing Street that she was unable to “deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party.”
The Conservative party executive board is understood to be meeting later on Thursday to devise the structure for a shortened leadership contest; it is currently unclear whether or not, and if so, how the membership will be consulted.
Brady confirmed to U.K. media that the leadership contest will be concluded by Friday, Oct. 28. When asked whether the Conservative membership will get a vote, he replied: “That is the expectation.”
Current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has already ruled himself out of the running, as has former leadership hopeful Michael Gove. Other front runners yet to confirm their candidacy include Defence Minister Ben Wallace, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch, and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
