Lee Anderson has become the first Nottinghamshire MP to publicly back Penny Mordaunt as the new Prime Minister after Boris Johnson withdrew from the race. The MP for Ashfield originally supported Boris Johnson, who he had a phone call with on Saturday (October 22), after the former Prime Minister cut short a Caribbean holiday amid the resignation of Liz Truss.
Candidates to be the next Conservative Party leader need to have the backing of 100 MPs by 2pm today (October 24) and despite claiming that he had passed this threshold, Mr Johnson announced on Sunday that he was pulling out of the leadership contest. He said that Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt had not agreed to work with him and that "you can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament."
Lee Anderson said it was "very disappointing" that Boris Johnson had withdrawn from the contest, but later confirmed that he would now be backing Penny Mordaunt as the new Prime Minister. Posting on social media, Mr Anderson said: "There are only two candidates left.
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"My preference is Penny Mordaunt MP. A strong willed politician who has the respect of the whole of Parliament. I want to see her on the ballot paper today to ensure members get a real choice."
Mr Anderson also said it was "only right" that Conservative Party members have a say on the next leader as well as MPs. If just one candidate crosses the threshold of 100 MPs, they will automatically become Prime Minister whereas if more than one crosses it, Tory party members will take part in a vote to be concluded by Friday.
Lee Anderson added: "Members are the lifeblood of any political party. They pay their membership, deliver leaflets, raise funds and do all the hard graft with little reward. It's only right they have a say in who their leader is."
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