at this point, or there is a vote of confidence in the government which the government then loses, but that would be require overwhelming numbers of conservative mps to vote against their own government, knowing it would trigger a general election. has knowing it would trigger a general election. ., , ,, ,, ., election. has sir keir starmer given a steer on who election. has sir keir starmer given a steer on who he election. has sir keir starmer given a steer on who he would election. has sir keir starmer given a steer on who he would prefer - election. has sir keir starmer given a steer on who he would prefer to l a steer on who he would prefer to stand up against in terms of boris johnson, penny mordaunt or rishi sunak? has he indicated a preferred candidate? tie. sunak? has he indicated a preferred candidate? ., . ~ sunak? has he indicated a preferred candidate? ., ., ,, ., candidate? no, and i think he would be unwise t0- candidate? no, and i think he would be unwise to. u
jacob rees mogg taking it back to a technicality about the rules. but the fact remains that a declaration of support in public is one thing, in private is another. i think boris johnson would obviously like to have the overwhelming numbers if he was to stand in this contest to demonstrate that level of support. rishi sunak is way out in front, the number taking rishi sunak is way out in front, the numbertaking up as rishi sunak is way out in front, the number taking up as we speak. he is now on 133 mp5 backing him. penny modern trailing with only 23. she was the first to declare early on friday afternoon penny modern. we could see that as an attempt to shore up support and paint herself as the true unity candidate. we know for a lot of borisjohnson s supporters, rishi sunak is divisive or even toxic given that his resignation was the initial trigger that led to borisjohnson s downfall and they can t forgive him for that. so you get the sense that penny mordaunt is trying to come bet
through to the first stage of the contest. but only 55 have backed him publicly. there is a discrepancy there, a big gap between the level of support the campaign says it has and the numbers backing him in public. so inevitably, there will be questions about that level of support and whether it really is as high as his supporters say it is. but one person who is backing him who was early out of the blocks to call for borisjohnson to make a comeback in the business secretary jacob rees mogg. yes, i have been speaking. to borisjohnson, and clearly, he s going to stand. |there s a great deal of support for him, as you will have seen. the system is that the proposer and |seconders names are made public. | other people have a choice - as to whether to make their names public or not, but the people who are doing the numbers i for boris s campaign tell me i that they have the numbers, so the 100 that is necessary - of members of parliament are there.