oversee the conservative leadership election as party chairman, i travelled around the country to over 80 different constituencies. what i heard from party members and people in the street, the length and breadth of the country, is that they thought mps had been wrong to get rid of boris and they wanted him on the ballot. that couldn t have happened over summer because he had resigned, the contest was between liz truss and rishi sunak. but now there is an opportunity for boris to put himself forward, which is what i m encouraging to do. the mp for basingstoke dame maria miller is supporting penny mordaunt in her efforts to become party leader and prime minister. i m backing penny because she is the candidate, i think, that cannot only bring the conservative party and parliament together but actually the whole country. she has a proven track record working across eight departments
and borisjohnson, but it is about to makes the nominations on monday at 2pm. to makes the nominations on monday at 2m. . ~ to makes the nominations on monday at2m. ., ~ ,., borisjohnson has landed back in london after his holiday in the caribbean, as speculation grows that he will enter the leadership race. 0ur correspondent, nomia iqbal, was on the flight and shejoins me now. where people aware that the former prime minister was on the flight? how did people react? hat prime minister was on the flight? how did people react? not everybody was aware of how did people react? not everybody was aware of it, how did people react? not everybody was aware of it, which how did people react? not everybody was aware of it, which was was aware of it, which was interesting. he was actually sat in economy, right at the back, with his wife and children. he was sat among everyday holiday makers who were heading home. he is one of the most recognisable men in the world. he was surrounded by a
important than that in terms of those mp5 is the range from devon seats like simonjupp to carlisle, john stevenson, welsh, scottish mps, remain and leave. i think the critical issue will be the economy. rishi had the right plan in the summer. i think it is the right plan now. i think he is the best candidate to provide stability and confidence for the millions of workers and businesses up and down the country. i also think he s the right candidate to bring the party together with a government of all the talents to relentlessly deliver for the british people, whether it s on the cost of living, crime, schools, nhs, and get us moving forward. which is what i think the country needs to see. one of those supporting the idea of borisjohnson returning as party leader and prime minister is andrew stephenson, who s currently a minister in the government. i m encouraging borisjohnson to win because during the summer i helped
is expected to announce his candidacy shortly. but it s widely being seen as a battle between the former prime minister and the man who worked with him as chancellor. currently the bbc estimates 168 out of 357 tory mps have gone public with their support. rishi sunak has passed the key threshold of 100 backers, borisjohnson has 46 and penny mordaunt 21. it s worth pointing out that these are the numbers the bbc can verify others may have different information. mps will vote on monday for their preferred candidate. if more than one reaches 100, conservative members will have the final say. some politicians have already been coming out in support of their preferred candidate to be the new prime minister of the uk. the former foreign secretary, dominic raab, has been speaking about why he s supporting rishi sunak as a contender. he has already, through the public declarations that have been tallied up, broken through the 100 threshold for nominations. i think what s probably more
holiday was due to end anyway. or maybe they cut it short because of what is happening here. did he say anything to give any indication of his thinking? fin anything to give any indication of his thinking? his thinking? on your first point, in the dominican his thinking? on your first point, in the dominican republic, - his thinking? on your first point, in the dominican republic, we i his thinking? on your first point, l in the dominican republic, we did try to find out and tried to approach him to understand exact that, is it a case of him being due to come back anyway, or was he cutting short his holiday? we are not 100% sure. he has been there for a couple of weeks, and he had a business trip during that holiday as well. we don t know for sure. in terms of any comment he has made, what is so fascinating is we know that boris johnson what is so fascinating is we know that borisjohnson is media friendly, he isn t shy of talking to the press, but he would not comment, would not sa