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Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak held a crunch summit over a power-sharing pact that could unite the Conservative Party and finally set Britain on the path to prosperity last night that lasted three hours — as a bombshell Mail on Sunday poll found the former Prime Minister would offer the Tories the best chance at a General Election.
Mr Johnson met his ex-Chancellor at 8pm last night, where he argued that if he re-entered No 10 with Mr Sunak in a senior role it would avoid a divisive battle.
Allies claimed Mr Johnson’s hand in the negotiations is strengthened as he would most likely win any ballot of Tory members. In return for giving his former Chancellor a top job, Mr Johnson would expect ‘strict loyalty’ — and if he couldn’t secure that, he would ‘leave Rishi to it’. Another supporter said the former Prime Minister, who flew back to the UK from his Caribbean holiday yesterday, aims to forge ‘an alliance in the national interest’.
The crunch summit is believed to have ended shortly before 11.20pm.No details about the talks were immediately forthcoming. Plans for a face-to-face meeting yesterday afternoon were delayed, with both sides blaming the other for the hold-up.
The two men have been political foes since Mr Sunak’s resignation this summer helped to bring down Mr Johnson, and last night allies of the former Chancellor questioned the claim by the Johnson camp that they had secured the backing of the 100 Tory MPs needed to secure a place on the ballot. They suspect they were being ‘bluffed’ into ‘folding’ too soon. By yesterday evening, the number of MPs offering their public backing had reached 127 for Mr Sunak, 53 for Mr Johnson and 23 for Ms Mordaunt.
Ms Mordaunt, well behind her rivals, appeared to position herself the kingmaker in the leadership contest next week.In an article in the Telegraph today, the Commons Leader made no mention of her own leadership bid, instead emphasising the need to ‘consolidate everything we’ve worked for over the last decade.’
Meanwhile, a Deltapoll survey for this newspaper found that if a General Election was held today, Labour would have a lead of 25 points — and an astonishing majority of 320.
But if Mr Johnson was Prime Minister, the lead would be cut to ten points, with a Labour majority of just 26. When voters were asked how they would vote if Rishi Sunak was the leader, Labour had a lead of 17 per cent and a projected majority of 124. Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, who is struggling to get enough MPs to back her leadership bid, would lose to a Labour majority of 216.
Another poll of 241 Conservative councillors found in a choice between the two frontrunners, 48 per cent said they would back Mr Sunak and 45 per cent said they would support Mr Johnson. However, the study for Savanta ComRes also found Tory members would be more likely to vote for Mr Johnson than Rishi Sunak or the councillors polled.
It comes as:
- Labour leader Keir Starmer has repeated his demands for a snap general election amid the political chaos;
- A bombshell YouGov poll found Labour on 53 per cent — a stunning 37 per cent ahead of the Conservatives;
- The deadline for reaching the leadership ballot is tomorrow, with candidates needing 100 MPs backing them;
- Penny Mordaunt appears to be positioning herself as kingmaker in the race as she penned an article about the contest which called for unity but made no mention of what she would do if elected;
- Rishi Sunak’s camp have challenged the claim of Boris Johnson’s supporters he has 100 Tory MPs behind him;
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hitting the phones trying to win the support of his fellow Tory MPs.Sources close to Mr Johnson claim he already has 100 endorsements but he is still far short when it comes to public backers
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has gained the support of over 100 Conservative MPs in his bid for the party leadership
Wearing a shirt and carrying a rucksack, the former PM waved to the cameras as he arrived back in the UK on Saturday
Mr Johnson came straight off the BA flight into a waiting car at Gatwick Airport on Saturday morning
Carrie Johnson is pictured in a car without Boris after landing in Gatwick following their flight back from the Dominican Republic
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