Jacob Rees-Mogg clears Boris Johnson to Stand for PM

• One of Boris Johnson’s supporters says it is ‘clear’ he will still run for PM.
• Rishi Sunak said he was running for office for real on Sunday morning.
• There had been rumors that they might make a deal, where one of them would step aside and the other would take over unopposed.

One of Boris Johnson’s supporters said that after he talked with his rival Rishi Sunak, it is “clear” that he will still run for prime minister.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Media that the former prime minister had the 100 supporters he needed to be in the race.

But just over half of those people have said in public that they support Johnson, while Mr. Sunak, the former chancellor, has already passed the 100 mark.

Mr. Sunak said he was running for office for real on Sunday morning.

He met with Mr. Johnson on Saturday night, which led to rumors that they might make a deal.

That would mean that one of them would step down so that the other could run unopposed. However, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt has also said she wants to run.

But when asked about what happened at the meeting, Sunak supporter Dominic Raab said on Media One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, “I don’t think there are any problems with deals here, and that’s not the way to go.”

He also said, “They did talk about the need for unity in a very good way.”

Only Mr. Johnson hasn’t said for sure that he’s going to run.

Mr. Sunak made his candidacy official by saying that the country was in a “deep economic crisis” and that, as chancellor, he had “helped to steer our economy through the toughest of times.”

He promised to “fix the biggest problems we face” and “live up to the promises of the 2019 manifesto” with “integrity, professionalism, and accountability.”

Former home secretary and leader candidate Suella Braverman has backed Mr. Sunak. She wrote in The Telegraph that he could “put our house in order and keep a steady, careful hand on the tiller.”

Mr. Raab, who was Mr. Johnson’s vice prime minister, said that Mr. Sunak was “the right person” to be PM, both from an economic and a political point of view.

He said that Mr. Sunak had made the right “fundamental decisions” about the economy and had the “experience to deliver” because he had been chancellor under Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Raab also said that Mr. Sunak had a lot of support from Conservative MPs, and that support was “growing by the hour.”

But Mr. Raab wouldn’t say whether Mr. Sunak would keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor. He said it wasn’t right to “start handing out jobs” during a leadership election.

He also said that Mr. Sunak would “put in place a government of all talents.”

Ms. Mordaunt has said that if she becomes PM, she will keep Mr. Hunt in his job to make sure there is a “smooth transition of power.”

The chancellor will talk about the government’s plans for spending cuts and taxes on October 31. This is just a few days before the new PM will take office.

Ms. Mordaunt said she was “in this to win it” and denied that she had talked to Mr. Johnson’s team about dropping out of the race in exchange for a high-profile job.