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Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Former British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday announced his run to replace Liz Truss as prime minister on the same day Boris Johnson he said won't seek to regain his former post. On Thursday Truss announced her resignation just six weeks into her team.
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"The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis," Sunak, 42, posted on Twitter. "That's 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 country."
The BBC and Washington Post reported Sunak and Johnson held talks late Saturday.
Johnson told Britain's PA Media news agency that "this would simply not be the right thing to do" as "you can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament."
He added: "I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds."
Sunak, who was chancellor from 2020 to July 5, made it to the final round in the race to succeed Boris Johnson before losing to Truss when the vote was put to party members. Conservative Party's national membership favored Truss by 57.4% to 42.6%.
Johnson claimed this time he had the support of 100 ministers, the minimum required to appear on the ballot among Conservative Party membership
Sunak is the first formally declared candidate to have collected the 100 nominations from fellow lawmakers required by 2 p.m. Monday.
The BBC's count of publicly declared Conservative members of Parliament gave Sunak 147 with 57 for Johnson and 24 for Penny Mordaunt, who has declared she is running for the sport and has served as leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since September. In all there are 358 Conservative ministers.
If the field includes more than one candidate, members of Parliament will select two to be put to an online vote by party members, with the results expected Friday.
If elected, Sunak would become the country's first prime minister of South Asian descent. He was born in Southampton, England, to parents of Indian origin emigrated from East Africa.
Johnson, who was named prime minister in 2019, had considered attempting to make a political comeback after resigning in July.
Sunak resigned as Johnson's finance minister, which prompted others to quit and ultimately forced Johnson to resign. he said the public deserved a government that conducted itself "properly, competently, and seriously."
CNN reported that Johnson is expected to appear before the Commons Privileges Committee which is investigating, whether he misled Parliament over a series of parties at Downing Streetduring COVID-19 restrictions.
Throwing their support to Sunak are former allies of Johnson, including former cabinet members Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamson.
And David Frost, who negotiated Britain's Brexit deal and then was given a seat in the House of Lords by Johnson, said Saturday that it was time to "move on" from the former prime minister.
On Saturday, former Home Secretary Priti Patel threw his support to Johnson.
"Boris has the mandate to deliver our elected manifesto and a proven track record getting the big decisions right," she tweeted.
Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, on Sunday again called for a general election.
"There is a choice to be made. We need a general election! Let the public into decide... Do they want to continue with this utter chaos, or do they want stability under a Labour government?" Starmer asked during a BBC interview.
