Rishi Sunak likely to be announced as UK's next PM by today? Here's how it could happen

The United Kingdom's former Finance Minister and Conservative party leader Rishi Sunak who has got the backing of at least 165 MPs, is likely to be announced as the next Prime Minister of the country by Monday, October 24, if another contender in the race to become the PM, Penny Mordaunt fails to get the support of 100 MPs by Monday. Notably, according to the media reports, Mordaunt, a cabinet minister, has not received more than 30 MPs' support.

According to the rules announced on Thursday, the party has established a threshold of 100 MPs for candidates to even get on the ballot paper for the race to the UK's next PM and there are a total of 357 MPs in the party, thus only a maximum of three Tory MPs will be eligible to run. If Mordaunt is unable to get the approval of 100 MPs by 02:00 PM (Local time) on Monday, Sunak would automatically become the UK's next premier, thus making him Britain’s first Indian-origin prime minister.

However, if Mordaunt will able to get backing from 100 Tory MPs by 02:00 PM (local time) on Monday, around 1,70,000 Tory members will vote online between her and Sunak, and the new leader will be chosen by Friday.

Boris Johnson drops out of race

On Sunday, former British PM Boris Johnson announced that he would not contest the Conservative Party leadership race. The 55-year-old Johnson claimed he had crossed the 100 MPs threshold but decided not to go forward in the interest of the Tory party’s unity.

In a statement, Johnson who had resigned in July in the wake of the ‘partygate’ scandal of COVID-19 lockdown law-breaking parties, said that he had "cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations", but came to the conclusion that "this is simply not the right time".

"I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds... I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time," Johnson said.

Britain is in 'dire straits,' and Sunak 'fits the bill': Former Home Secretary

Ex-Home Secretary of the UK who resigned during the tenure of Liz Truss as the prime minister, Suella Braverman, has backed Rishi Sunak as the next leader. She did not support ousted premier Boris Johnson stressing that now is not the time for "fantasies".

"Yes, I want a leader of our party and our country to inspire hope for a better future and raise our spirits. And I need a leader who will put our house in order and apply a steady, careful hand on the tiller. That person, for me, is Rishi Sunak,” Suella Braverman said to UK's Telegraph.

"We are in dire straits now. We need unity, stability and efficiency. Rishi is the only candidate that fits the bill and I am proud to support him," she added.