election. these people are so fed u -. the election. these people are so fed un- they want election. these people are so fed un- they want a election. these people are so fed up. they want a say election. these people are so fed up. they want a say in election. these people are so fed up. they want a say in this. - election. these people are so fed| up. they want a say in this. there is a choice up. they want a say in this. there is a choice to up. they want a say in this. there is a choice to be made. we need a general is a choice to be made. we need a general election. let the public in to decide~ general election. let the public in to decide. do they want to continue with this to decide. do they want to continue with this utter chaos? in other news, xi jinping has a in other news, xijinping has a third term as china s leader after being in powerfor a decade already. ukrainian president zelensky says renewed russian strikes won t stop a ukrainian military ad
this. let me remind you of the tally before we speak to sonia sodha, who is standing by. mr sunak, who has declared in the last 45 minutes, has the public support of 130 mp5. he held talks with borisjohnson last night. we are yet to hear from mr johnson that he will be standing in the contest. this is the bbc tally. mr sunak has 130 mp5 backing him. that is significantly more than the 100 needed to enter the ballot. borisjohnson is currently 100 needed to enter the ballot. boris johnson is currently standing at 55. we have heard various claims that he has the numbers. but according to the bbc, we have 55 against his name. and penny mordaunt standing at 23. so it is rishi sunak
will not want to rush to calling a general election. if you look at the polls at the moment, opinion poll after opinion poll shows that the conservatives have very low support among the general public at the moment. labourare among the general public at the moment. labour are pulling much higher. that suggests that if there were to be a general election sooner rather than later, the conservatives would be greatly diminished in terms of the numbers they have in parliament. they could face a wipe out and they would be in opposition and labour would likely be in power. so, difficult as things are, compelling as the arguments are according to the opposition for a general election, that doesn t have to be one. we have a parliamentary democracy. no matter how many times the leader of the governing party changes, until either the time limit of five years expires or the prime minister decides to go to the palace and call one, and no conservative prime minister is likely to do that
declared, can she get to the 100? but the really significant thing is borisjohnson. he is the big unknown. he is talking up his chances, his allies, and getting the 100 nominations he needs to go through, but there is a certain amount of scepticism as to whether he has actually got them or whether his team are just trying to make it sound like they do so that if he withdraws, it is a choice rather than something he was forced to do because he couldn t get the support from his parliamentary party. in from his parliamentary party. in terms of declaring, something i have heard over the last few days is, why would he not have declared straight out? he has literally waited 2a hours, orjust shy of 2a hours before that 2pm deadline on monday. do you think there was a question mark over the support for him within
the screen. stay with us. tweet on the screen. stay with us. more coming up. the former chancellor rishi sunak confirms that he is in the race to be the next conservative party leader and british prime minister. speculation is still rife that the former prime minister borisjohnson will also enter the contest. a, former prime minister boris johnson will also enter the contest. will also enter the contest. a close all is will also enter the contest. a close ally is confident will also enter the contest. a close ally is confident that will also enter the contest. a close ally is confident that he will also enter the contest. a close ally is confident that he will. - will also enter the contest. a close ally is confident that he will. yes, | ally is confident that he will. yes, i have been speaking to boris johnson and clearly, he is going to stand. there is a great deal of support for him, as you will have seen. labour leader sir keir starmer says that labour hasn t got complacent