Boris Johnson doesn’t mind who the next prime minister is – as long as it’s not Rishi Sunak, according to reports.
The interim prime minister has been urging the Tory MPs knocked out of the race to replace him to back “anyone but” his former chancellor, according to The Times.
Mr Sunak’s resignation from Johnson’s Cabinet, which came as health secretary Sajid Javid also quit his post, was seen as the beginning of the end for the prime minister’s time in No 10.
The slew of resignations that followed - 52 MPs in just over 36 hours - eventually forced Johnson to announce he would step down as Tory leader.
The outgoing prime minister has said he will not publicly endorse any of the candidates in the running to replace him.
However, the Times reported that he has held conversations with those knocked out of the race to argue that Mr Sunak should not become prime minister.
A source told The Times: “The whole No 10 team hates Rishi. It’s personal. It’s vitriolic. They don’t blame [Sajid Javid] for bringing him down. They blame Rishi. They think he was planning this for months.”
The former chancellor is one of the frontrunners in the race to No 10, winning the most MPs’ votes in the second round of voting, which took place yesterday.
However, polling of Tory party members – who will have the final say over which of the last two hopefuls standing wins the keys to No 10 – has shown Penny Mordaunt to be the clear favourite.
It has also been bad reading for Mr Sunak, who polled at a loss in a head-to-head against every other candidate left in the running.
The outgoing Tory leader reportedly privately favours Liz Truss, the foreign secretary who has the backing of fierce Johnson loyalists Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries, to take his job.
But Mr Johnson declined to offer his support to any candidate, saying he didn’t want to “damage anyone’s chances”.
He said: “I’m determined to get on and deliver the mandate that was given to us. But my job is really just to oversee the process for the next few weeks. And I’m sure that the outcome will be good, and we just need to get on.
“Look, I don’t want to say any more about all that. There’s a contest under way and that must happen.
“I wouldn’t want to damage anybody’s chances by offering my support. I just have to get on.”
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