LONDON — Rishi Sunak gained momentum in the race to become U.K. prime minister, securing the public backing of senior Conservative Party lawmakers ahead of an initial leadership vote on Monday and putting pressure on Boris Johnson to declare his hand.
The former chancellor announced on Sunday he was running for the party leadership in a contest sparked by the resignation of Liz Truss after a turmoil-filled 44 days as premier. “I want to fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country,” he said in a Twitter post.
Johnson meanwhile is yet to publicly announce his candidacy, even as a person familiar with the discussions said the former prime minister had already secured the support of 100 lawmakers, enough to put him on the ballot on Monday. But his public endorsements were only about half that, and throughout Sunday it was clear that the big Tory names increasingly were backing Sunak.
