Rishi Sunak has hinted that he wouldn’t take a cabinet position if his rival Liz Truss wins the leadership race.
He claimed that his priority was “not thinking about jobs for me or anyone else” during the final push of the leadership contest.
The foreign secretary, who remains the favourite to win and become the next PM, has reportedly considered Sunak as a possible health secretary in her cabinet. According to Tim Shipman and Harry Yorke’s report in the Sunday Times, the Truss campaign have already held several meetings on who will serve.
In an interview on BBC Radio 2, the former chancellor strongly suggested that he would not accept a job in Truss’s cabinet, alluding to his time as chancellor by saying that you need to agree on the “big things” in government in order for it to function efficiently.
“It’s tough, as I found out, when you don’t. And I wouldn’t want to end up in a situation like that again.”
However, his disagreements with Johnson on economic policy were arguably minor compared to what we see in the leadership contest, with Sunak accusing Truss of “fairytale” economics and saying that her policies would “spiral” the UK into deeper inflation.
Sunak added that his future role is not his priority: “I’m not focused on all of that and I doubt Liz is to be honest.”
The winning candidate usually offers a senior job to their rival. This is partly out of courtesy and partly to keep them ‘on-side’.
Sunak’s resignation from the cabinet last month was widely deemed the turning point that sparked the fall of Boris Johnson. Sunak made his intentions clear from early on, launching his leadership campaign in hope of becoming the next prime minister.
But the figures suggest that Liz Truss is far the favourite to win the leadership race.
The two candidates will face an audience of 1,000 Conservative party members on Tuesday night in a hustings event hosted by Times Radio.
