Boris Johnson drops out of race to be next UK PM, despite claiming he could win

Boris Johnson. Getty/Christopher Furlong

• Boris Johnson removed himself for consideration to become the UK's next prime minister.
• The unusual prospect would have seen Johnson return two months after resigning from the post.
• The new prime minister selection comes following Liz Truss's resignation after just six weeks. 

Boris Johnson ruled himself out of the contest to be the next prime minister of the UK on Sunday.

The declaration, issued around 9 p.m. local time, ended the extraordinary prospect of Johnson returning to power only two months after leaving Downing Street in disgrace.

His departure left two Conservative Party MPs in the running to succeed Liz Truss, who resigned on Thursday after a disastrous six weeks in power as Johnson's successor.

The two remaining candidates are Rishi Sunak, who was Johnson's finance minister, and Penny Mordaunt, a former cabinet minister with a much smaller profile.

Mordaunt reached third place in the last leadership election, which Truss won, while Sunak was second.

In his message, Johnson claimed he had secured the support of enough Conservative MPs to reach the next round in the selection process, which would see ordinary party members choose between the two candidates with support from the most MPs.

"There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members – and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday," he wrote.

However, he said he was aware many MPs objected to the idea of him returning to power, and he doubted he would be able to govern effectively. Therefore, he said, he was dropping out.

Johnson, who served as prime minister starting in 2019, resigned in July after several dozen Tory MPs quit following a string of scandals. In April, Johnson had been found guilty of attending an illegal gathering during the coronavirus lockdown, despite having said he followed the rules.

Then in June, Chris Pincher, Johnson's deputy chief whip, quit over allegations he had drunkenly groped two men at a party years before. Johnson said he was unaware of the allegations when he appointed Pincher, but those claims later fell apart, and his resignation came shortly after.

Still, Johnson remained popular with many Tory activists and numerous reports in the wake of Truss's resignation suggested he was interested in running.