New Delhi: Signalling towards his loss in the Tory leadership race, Rishi Sunak on Sunday said that his job would be to support the next government. In his final interview with the BBC before results are declared, the British Indian former Chancellor said he plans to stay on as a member of Parliament and continue to work for his constituency of Richmond and North Yorkshire if he loses the race to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. “I look forward to supporting the Conservative government in whatever capacity,” Sunak told BBC when asked about his future plans if the result does not go his way.
“I’m going to stay as a member of Parliament…It’s been a great privilege to represent my constituents in Richmond in North Yorkshire as their member of Parliament and I’ll love to keep doing that as long as they’ll have me,” he said.
On whether he would consider a second go at the top job at 10 Downing Street in a few years’ time if he loses this time, he said: “Gosh, we’ve just finished this campaign and I need to recover from this one.”
This is being seen as the first sign that even the 42-year-old former finance minister believes he may not have got enough votes to clinch the Tory leadership election. With him not ruling out another run, it will also fan speculation that he might want to have a second go at being elected the UK’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister if he is beaten by Truss this time.
While Sunak remained a clear frontrunner in the early knockout stages of the contest with the Tory MPs, he has been trailing Truss in most surveys of party members voting to elect a new leader to succeed Boris Johnson.
Both candidates have gone head-to-head in a dozen hustings events up and down the UK in an attempt to win over votes, with the issue of the cost-of-living crisis as a result of soaring household energy bills and inflation dominating the agenda.
(With inputs from PTI)