Boris Johnson has said he is “determined” to fulfill his Conservative Party’s winning mandate in 2019 in his final weeks as leader, as he refuses to support any candidate for leadership.
Speaking to broadcasters for the first time since his resignation last week, Johnson said he will continue to “oversee the process” before a new Conservative leader is elected in the coming weeks.
“I am determined to go ahead and deliver the mandate that was given to us, but my job is just to oversee the process in the coming weeks, and I am sure the result will be good,” he said during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute. of London.
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“We just have to move on and, as I told you before, we focus more on the people, the people who elect us, their jobs, their hopes and what they can get out of investing in science and technology. .
“The more we talk about the future we’re trying to build, the less we talk about politics in Westminster, the happier we’ll all be.”
When asked repeatedly who will support the Conservative leadership career, Johnson said, “I would not want to harm the chances of leadership candidates by offering my support.”
Last Thursday, Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister after less than three years at No. 10, saying, “No one in politics is remotely indispensable.”
Speaking from Downing Street, he thanked the millions of people who voted Conservative in the last election, and said the reason he fought so long to stay in office was because “I thought it was my work, my duty and my obligation to you. “
He also said he had tried to persuade his cabinet that it would be “eccentric” to change prime minister now, but added: “I am sorry I have not been successful in these arguments.
“In Westminster, the herd’s instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.”
Asked Monday about the accusation that his deputies who resigned from government positions had succumbed to a “herd mentality,” Johnson declined to comment further.
“I don’t want to say anything more about all this,” he said.
“There’s a contest going on and it’s happened, and, you know, I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s chances by offering my support.
“I just have to move on and, in the last days or weeks of work, the constitutional function of the prime minister in this situation is to fulfill the mandate, to continue exercising the mandate, and that is what I am doing. .
A No. 10 source said last week that the Prime Minister had spoken to the chairman of the 1922 Conservative committee, Sir Graham Brady, before his resignation and agreed that a new Conservative leader would be in his place at the party conference. in October.
But several of his MPs want him to leave immediately, saying that after so many resignations from his government, he does not have the authority to lead.
Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major wrote to Sir Graham last week telling him that allowing Johnson to remain in office for three months would be “foolish and can be unsustainable”.
Meanwhile, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has also threatened to call a vote of censure on the Commons, with the support of other opposition parties, if Conservative MPs cannot oust him immediately.
Read more: Favorites will be the next PMThere are questions after Johnson leaves
Over the weekend, rumors swept away that Mr. Johnson could himself participate in the upcoming Conservative leadership race.
However, this would go against the Conservative Party’s election rules which say, “A resigning leader cannot run in subsequent leadership elections.”
A No. 10 source told Sky News that Johnson will not attempt to enter any leadership contests and that the claim that he will do so is “false.”
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23:42 Conservative leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi is doing his first interview since he became chancellor.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Liz Truss has officially joined the race for Conservative leadership, with Home Secretary Priti Patel potentially ready to announce her candidacy.
Foreign Minister Rehman Chishti has also made a surprise entry, meaning now 11 Conservatives are fighting to replace Mr Johnson as prime minister.
Former Chancellor Sunak currently has the largest number of sponsors, and Commerce Minister Penny Mordaunt is also popular.
Later today, the 1922 Tory Committee of Deputies party elders will decide the rules under which the leadership contest will be held.
Meanwhile, Bob Blackman, joint executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, told Sky News on Monday more about the leadership election process.
Blackman said the Conservative Party leadership candidates will be reduced to the last two next Thursday and that the support threshold for entering the race is likely to be 20.
“We need to reduce the list of candidates fairly quickly to two, and the only thing we have committed to do is get two candidates before Thursday, July 21,” he told Sky News.
“That means we’ll do a succession of ballots over the next few days to get to that position.”
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0:23 Commerce Secretary Penny Mordaunt has announced she is joining the race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Voting is likely to take place this Wednesday and Thursday and next Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.
Elsewhere, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticized the “fantastic economy arms race” in the Conservative leadership election, criticizing candidates’ bids to “whitewash” the party’s integrity.
Taking questions from reporters during a speech in Gateshead, he said: “We’ve had this circus in the last few days, £ 200 billion of free spending commitment.
“All Conservative candidates who commit to wild spending should tell us exactly where they get that money from.
“It’s cut, if so, what do they cut? If it’s borrowed, tell us how much they borrow? Or is it the magic money tree they’ve suddenly discovered has returned here under the moon, where they” I’ve been for the last 12 years “.