Boris Johnson has held talks with his former finance minister Rishi Sunak as a key deadline looms in the race to replace Liz Truss as British Prime Minister, media outlets in the United Kingdom are reporting.
The two men have become the early favorites to replace Truss, who announced her resignation Thursday just six weeks into a term that threw Britain into political and economic turmoil.
Though neither of them has formally declared their candidacy, Sunak has reached the 100-nomination threshold to make it to the voting stage and Johnson’s allies said he had returned to the country from a holiday in the Caribbean with the intention of joining the race, PA news reported.
A runoff between the two men could prove divisive for the ruling Conservative party, not least because many of Johnson’s supporters blame Sunak’s resignation in July for sparking the downfall of his government. Some outlets have speculated that the two men could strike some kind of deal.
The BBC’s sources said the meeting took place but “it wasn’t disclosed what they discussed,” while Britain’s PA Media news agency reported the two “were said to be locked in talks late into the evening” Saturday.
Sky News, meanwhile, referred to the meeting as a “secret summit.”