Priti Patel and Michael Gove have come out in support of Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader, as the former chancellor hopes to be declared the next prime minister within hours.
The former home secretary – who declared backing for Boris Johnson at the weekend – said she was switching support after the ex-PM pulled out of the race on Sunday night.
Ms Patel tweeted called on Tories to “put political differences aside to give Rishi Sunak the best chance of succeeding”, having claimed on Saturday that Mr Johnson was the candidate with “the mandate”.
She becomes the latest senior figure to make a swift U-turn. Foreign secretary James Cleverly and Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harries also announced on Monday they too would switch support from Mr Johnson to Mr Sunak.
Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi has been mocked for declaring his loyalty to Mr Sunak, only minutes after a piece he wrote for The Telegraph backing “Boris 2.0”.
Prior to withdrawing at 9pm on Sunday, Mr Johnson had won the support of several cabinet ministers – including Mr Zahawi, Mr Cleverly, Mr Heaton-Harris, Ben Wallace, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Clarke, Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Alok Sharma.
Mr Gove formally backed Mr Sunak on Monday morning, calling for Tories to unite behind him. “There are big challenges ahead and the national interest requires us to show resolution and fortitude under new leadership,” he tweeted.
Mr Sunak will take charge of the party without the need for any vote from Tory MPs or members if Penny Mordaunt falls short of the threshold by the 2pm deadline, or pulls out of the contest.
Ms Mordaunt has fewer than 30 public backers so far, but her campaign claimed at lunchtime that she had support from over 90 MPs.
“We’re confident Penny will get above the 100 mark,” backer Damian Green said. “There were a lot of people who weren’t declaring publicly what they were doing. Penny’s numbers are well above the published figures already, even without any of Boris supporters.”
Mr Sunak has reached more 50 per cent support among Tory MPs, getting over 180 nominations by 10.30am on Monday morning.
But key backer Andrea Leadsom said there is “absolutely no chance” that Ms Mordaunt would be stepping down from the race today – saying her team was “supremely confident” of reaching the threshold.
A Mordaunt campaign spokesperson said: “Penny is speaking to colleagues from across the party. She’s getting the numbers and she’s in it to win it.”
Boris Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries said it will be “impossible” to avoid a general election after her former boss pulled out of the Tory leadership contest.
The former culture secretary – the uber Johnson loyalist – also warned that “all hell would break” lose if favourite Rishi Sunak is installed at No 10 in the coming hours.
Sir Christopher Chope, another Johnson loyalist, called for a general election – saying the party was becoming “ungovernable”.
But key Sunak backer Grant Shapps, the home secretary, insisted there was no need for a general election. “We elect a party and we elect individuals,” he told Sky News.
Mr Shapps admitted it was “unusual” to have three prime ministers in as many months, but claimed Mr Sunak had a legitimate mandate to deliver the 2019 Tory manifesto.
And Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie, backing Mr Sunak, said a general election this autumn would not be in the national interest.
Speaking on BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland, Mr Bowie said: “A general election – even for a snap general election – by law necessitates six weeks of campaigning. That is six weeks when parliament isn’t sitting and six weeks where government isn’t getting down to business.”
