Boris Johnson loyalist Priti Patel comes out in support of Rishi Sunak as UK PM

Priti Patel a loyalist of former British prime minister Boris Johnson on Monday came out in support of Rishi Sunak to take over at 10 Downing Street as the Conservative Party leader after her former boss withdrew from the leadership contestThe Indianorigin former home secretary who resigned from the Cabinet when Liz Truss was elected the Prime Minister last month said the Tories must put political differences aside to give Sunak the best chance of succeeding as the new leaderHer intervention came as the former chancellor looks well poised as the frontrunner to make history as the first Indianorigin Prime Minister of the UK with publicly voiced support for Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt still well short of the 100MPs thresholdIn these difficult times for our country we must unite by putting public service first and work together tweeted PatelWe care about our country and with the enormous challenges upon us we must put political differences aside to give Rishi Sunak the best chance of succeeding she saidIt came alongside her Diwali tweet with images of the senior Tory MP at a temple lighting candlesThe Hindu Festival of Light is an auspicious and joyous festival It is a time for selfreflection family friends and service to others I wish everyone a very blessed and happy Diwali she saidAlso Read Two Indians missing in Kenya killed by cops ReportIt follows a dramatic weekend when Johnson declared that though he had met the high hurdle of 102 nominations enough to make the shortlist in time for theMonday deadline he had decided not to proceed in the interest of party unityThere is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do You cant govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament he said in a statementSunak took to Twitter soon after to praise his record in office in an apparent outreach to the Johnson loyalists within a divided Tory partySunak said Boris Johnson delivered Brexit and the great vaccine rollout He led our country through some of the toughest challenges we have ever faced and then took on Putin and his barbaric war in Ukraine We will always be grateful to him for thatAlthough he has decided not to run for PM again I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroadThere had been much talk of a rapprochement between the duo who worked side by side at No 10 and 11 Downing Street as the Prime Minister and Chancellor during the course of the COVID19 pandemicHowever it was the pandemic lockdown lawbreaking partygate scandal that ultimately brought their partnership to a halt in July when Sunaks resignation from Cabinet set events in motion that ended in Johnsons own exitThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever