Sunak enters race

British Conservative Rishi Sunak yesterday announced he is standing to be prime minister, just weeks after failing in a first attempt and setting up a potentially bruising battle with his former boss Boris Johnson.

The 58-year-old Johnson is said to be intensely lobbying Conservative colleagues ahead of a deadline of this afternoon to secure the 100 nominations required to face a vote of 357 Tory MPs.

Amid growing calls for unity within the fractured ruling party, he and Sunak held talks late into the night, reports said yesterday, as the feuding political heavyweights battle behind the scenes.

Few details have emerged about what The Sun dubbed a "secret summit". The Sunday Times said it lasted several hours "in the hope of burying the hatchet and thrashing out a deal to govern together".

"We're all waiting for white smoke," an ally of one told the newspaper.

However, Sunak's announcement yesterday suggests he is confident he can vanquish Johnson.

Ex-finance minister Sunak said he had a "track record of delivery" and would lead Britain out of "profound economic crisis", which experts say has been worsened by the aborted policies of outgoing leader Liz Truss.

"I want to fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country," he said in a short statement posted on Twitter confirming his widely expected candidacy.

The no-frills announcement contrasted with his last failed bid to be Tory leader, when he faced criticism for a slickly produced video launched just days after he had helped depose ex-prime minister Johnson by resigning in July.

Sunak, 42, is the second Conservative MP to declare a run at the top job, after cabinet member Penny Mordaunt launched her campaign on Friday.

Sunak has crossed the minimum threshold Friday and currently boasting the public backing of 139 Tory lawmakers, according to a BBC tally.

That compares to Johnson's 56 and 23 for Mordaunt, though the ex-leader's allies insist he has secured the 100 nominations.

"Boris's campaign tell me that they have the numbers," Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC. "Clearly, he is going to stand. There is a great deal of support for him."

The Tories have been forced into a second, this time expedited, leadership contest since the summer following Truss's resignation after only 44 disastrous days into her tenure over her calamitous tax-slashing mini-budget.

If two candidates remain after Conservative lawmakers vote today, the party's approximately 170,000 members will make their choice, with the result announced Friday.

Johnson, who only relinquished power in early September following a government revolt over a slew of scandals, is still seen as the grassroots' favourite. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly yesterday endorsed Johnson's bid to return to 10 Downing Street as prime minister.

Mordaunt, who missed out on the last contest's run-off by just eight MPs' votes, is adamant she alone is able to bring the party together.

"I'm best placed to unite our party," the 49-year-old told the BBC, arguing she was "the halfway house" between Sunak and Truss in the summer race.

Johnson's attempt at political resurrection has already been decried by opposition politicians, and even some in his own party.

"This isn't the time for Boris," Sunak-supporting Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker told Sky News, arguing another Johnson-led government "would be a guaranteed disaster" and implode within months.

Sunak has also picked up several other endorsements, including from home secretary Grant Shapps, a former ally of Johnson, former home secretary Suella Braverman and trade minister Kemi Badenoch, an influential right-winger who finished fourth in the last leadership contest.

New polling showed the Tories could benefit from a change of leader, after Truss's missteps plunged them to unprecedented lows.

But a survey by Conservative pollster James Johnson still found all three Tory candidates had negative favourability, with Johnson on -24, Mordaunt -15 and Sunak -2.