Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed the Prime Minister has been ignoring his calls since he resigned from Cabinet.
Mr Sunak sparked Boris Johnson’s downfall by being one of the first ministers to abandon their post in early July, alongside former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
Both wrote incendiary resignation letters which said they no longer had faith in Mr Johnson after his handling of the scandal surrounding former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.
Dozens more MPs and ministers followed suit until Mr Johnson was forced to resign.
I’ve messaged and called, but unsurprisingly he hasn’t returned my calls.— Rishi Sunak speaking about Boris Johnson.
Now a hopeful successor to Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak took part in a leadership hustings hosted by The Daily Telegraph on Thursday evening alongside his rival, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
When asked by the paper’s associate editor Camilla Tominey whether he had spoken with the Prime Minister since he resigned from his Cabinet, Mr Sunak said: “I’ve messaged and called, but unsurprisingly he hasn’t returned my calls.”
On June 30, Chris Pincher dramatically resigned as deputy chief whip after allegedly assaulting two fellow guests the evening before at the Carlton Club, a Tory private members’ establishment in London.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson was not aware of any “specific allegations” about Mr Pincher when he appointed him to the whips office, but it emerged over the following days that he was told about them as far back as 2019.
Mr Johnson was forced into a humiliating apology, saying he had forgotten about the allegations.
