Rishi Sunak declares candidacy to be new UK PM and 'fix economy'

Indianorigin former chancellor Rishi Sunak on Sunday formally declared his candidacy to contest the Conservative Party leadership election to replace Liz Truss as British Prime Minister and fix the economyThe 42yearold is the clear frontrunner as he raced ahead with the backing of at least 128 Tory members of Parliament even as loyalists of his former boss ndash Boris Johnson ndash claimed he has the necessary 100 MPs needed to make it to the shortlistWhile the former Tory leader and prime minister is yet to officially declare his candidacy the contest is shaping up as a threeway fight including thirdplaced Leader of the Commons Penny MordauntldquoThe United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisisrdquo Sunak tweeted in his campaign pitchldquoThatrsquos why I am standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and your next Prime Minister I want to fix our economy unite our party and deliver for our countryrdquo he saidIn an accompanying vision statement the former finance minister highlighted his track record of serving in the Cabinet helping to steer the economy through the toughest of times with the COVID pandemicAlso readRishi Sunak hits 100 MPs mark gets shortlisted for UK PMldquoThe challenges we face now are even greater But the opportunities ndash if we make the right choice ndash are phenomenal I have the track record of delivery a clear plan to fix the biggest problems we face and I will deliver on the promise of the 2019 manifestordquo he writesldquoThere will be integrity professionalism and accountability at every level of the government I lead and I will work day in and day out to get the job done I am asking you for the opportunity to help fix our problemsrdquo he saidThe muchanticipated declaration came following reports of socalled powersharing talks between Sunak and Johnson which supporters say sought to find common ground within a deeply divided Tory partyldquoI donrsquot think therersquos any issue around deals here and thatrsquos not the right way to proceedrdquo former deputy prime minister and Sunak supporter Dominic Raab told the BBCldquoWhat they Sunak and Johnson did have is a very good conversation around the need for unityhellip and the momentum and growing number and also range for Rishi that he is the best placed because he has got the breadth of supportrdquo he said adding that support for Sunak from within the party was ldquogrowing by the hourrdquoCandidates have until 2pm local time on Monday to be included on the ballot paper with successful candidates requiring the support of at least 100 Conservative MPsIf any one candidate crosses the 156MPs mark before then the shortlist would automatically shorten to two candidates given the Tory House of Commons tally of 357 MPsIf there is a threeway clash MPs will hold an indicative ballot on Monday to put forward the final two shortlisted candidates for an expedited online vote by around 170000 Tory members with the new leader elected by next FridayIn case the party can internally unite behind one candidate then the new leader and Prime Minister could be in place by Monday eveningA number of Tory ministers including former leadership contenders Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat ndash who had backed Truss in the last race have come out in support of SunakIt is reflective of the overwhelming support he received from his colleagues back in July soon after Boris Johnson resigned in the wake of the COVID lockdown lawbreaking partygate scandalSunak the soninlaw of Infosys cofounder Narayan Murthy recently adopted a lowkey stance after losing out in the wider party membership vote to Truss last monthBut his allies analysts and media reports have been very vocal in pointing out how his campaign forewarnings of much of the economic chaos that followed Trussrsquo taxcutting minibudget had come to passDuring the previous Tory leadership contest which ran between July and early September Sunak called the tax cuts proposed by Truss as immoral and warned about the need for fiscal responsibility as opposed to ldquofairytalerdquo economicsMeanwhile the Opposition parties have been clamouring for a general election in order to give the electorate a say in the wake of the governing partyrsquos ldquoshamblesrdquoldquoAll those that are going to literally go along with this chaos rather than allowing us to transition to a stable Labour government are putting party first not country first and thatrsquos the wrong way aroundrdquo said Labour Party Leader Keir StarmerThe Scottish National Party SNP have called on Labour to call a vote of no confidence in the Conservative government and force a general electionHowever the governing party insists it has the electoral mandate from the 2019 general election won by Boris Johnson and any vote on an early poll is unlikely to be forced through given the Tory majority in the House of CommonsPrime Minister Truss on Thursday announced her resignation after an open revolt against her leadership in the Conservative PartyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever