Tory leadership live: Priti Patel says she backs Boris Johnson as Rishi Sunak reaches threshold of 100 declared supporters

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Key events (10)Boris Johnson (25)Rishi Sunak (17)Penny Mordaunt (11)Dominic Raab (3)

ITV’s Robert Peston writes that Boris Johnson may very well if he chooses to run for the Tory leadership campaign, but whether he would win a general election is another matter.

Johnson had three advantages during the 2019 election campaign, he says: the pledge to “get Brexit done”, Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity, and a public sector balance sheet that made it possible for him to promise lots of public spending.

This is no longer the case. Any new campaign led by Johnson would be about his qualities and his mixed record, Peston continues. The biggest question is whether he is able to unite the party at a time when so many Tory MPs did not support him.

Lord Frost, Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, backs Sunak

The former cabinet minister David Frost has announced he is backing Rishi Sunak.

Frost, who was Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, said the Conservative party must “move on” and get behind a capable leader who can deliver.

Updated at 07.24 EDT

The former Telegraph editor and close Boris Johnson ally Lord Charles Moore has suggested that Johnson should “sit out” the leadership contest.

In a piece published last night, Moore said the former PM should “sit this one out” partly because “there is no evidence that, as prime minister, Boris ever took care for the public finances”.

He adds:

If Rishi is the investor, Boris is the entrepreneur – bolder, more individualistic, riskier. This explains why Boris was skilled at pulling off Brexit. It might make him less suitable for slowly bringing down debt, controlling inflation and developing a coherent, secure energy system.

He ends by saying:

I can see Boris storming back in different circumstances, with a Labour government in disarray and a lack-lustre Tory opposition seeking renewal. I don’t see it working right now. True Boris fans will have the courage to tell him to sit this one out.

Updated at 07.10 EDT

Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, has said a general election would be “political suicide” for the Conservative party.

Speaking on LBC, he refused to say whether he would be supporting his son if he decides to run as prime minister again.

Asked if the decent thing would be to call a general election, Johnson replied:

We don’t have rules that permit that. Suicide is pretty much illegal in most countries in the world. It’s not advisable.

Asked if he meant that the Tories would be committing political suicide if they went to an election, he replied:

I think they would, yeah.

Updated at 07.08 EDT

Sir Peter Bottomley, who as father of the house is the longest continuously serving MP, has announced that he is backing Rishi Sunak.

Updated at 06.53 EDT

Boris Johnson was pictured arriving at Gatwick airport, after travelling on a flight from the Caribbean.

Boris Johnson arrives at Gatwick Airport in London. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Updated at 06.39 EDT

Aaron Bell has announced he is backing Rishi Sunak because his “competence and experience” make him best placed to “rebuild trust with the British people”.

Bell was one of the Conservative MPs to submit a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson in February.

He gave an emotional speech in the Commons saying he had driven three hours each way to his grandmother’s funeral without hugging his family or stopping for a cup of tea. “Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?” he asked.

‘Am I a fool?’ Aaron Bell asks Johnson after following Covid rules – video

Dominic Raab has said he does not understand how Boris Johnson’s leadership bid can be reconciled with a pending Standards Committee hearing.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the former deputy prime minister and Rishi Sunak supporter said:

We cannot have another episode of the Groundhog Day, of the soap opera, of partygate. We must get the country and the government moving forward. ‘We cannot go backwards’: Raab reacts to Johnson’s leadership bid – video Rishi Sunak passes 100 declared backers

As of 11.10am, the Guardian has counted over 100 public nominations for Rishi Sunak. Boris Johnson has 49 backers and Penny Mordaunt is currently on 22.

Here is a rundown of those who have publicly thrown their weight behind their preferred potential candidate:

Updated at 06.16 EDT

The leader of the Commons, Penny Mordaunt, says she “knows about the cost of living and how frightening it can be” in her campaign video. Mordaunt says she joined the Conservative party because she “believed in its principles and its values”.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker points out her narration doesn’t quite match the subtitles for the video.

As Mordaunt says: “My community has always helped me. It was natural that I wanted to help it in return,” the subtitles read: “That’s why my first action as prime minister will be to cut the cost of fuel”.

Presumably this is because Mordaunt has since dropped this plan since she last ran during the summer, Peter writes.

Updated at 06.15 EDT

Priti Patel: Boris Johnson has ‘track record of getting big decisions right’

Here’s the full statement from the former home secretary Priti Patel on her backing of Boris Johnson.

She says the events of recent weeks have been “painful” for the Conservative party and that it must unite behind the winner of this week’s leadership contest “to restore our reputation for financial discipline” and deliver on its election manifesto commitments.

Patel continues:

Boris has a proven track record getting the big decisions right, standing up for Ukraine and our values, and delivering on the people’s priorities. From the successful vaccine rollout to investing in levelling up, and from delivering more police on our streets to getting Brexit done, Boris has the leadership qualities, democratic mandate and optimism to get our country through these challenging times.

I’m backing Boris to return as our prime minister, to bring together a united team to deliver our manifesto and lead Britain to a stronger and more prosperous future.

Updated at 06.16 EDT

Here’s a clip of Boris Johnson’s plane landing at Gatwick Airport this morning.

Tory leadership race: Boris Johnson lands at Gatwick as he returns from holiday – video Priti Patel backs Boris Johnson

The former home secretary Priti Patel has announced she is backing Boris Johnson for leader.

Updated at 05.49 EDT

More than 7,000 people tracked the BA flight carrying Boris Johnson and his family back to the UK from a holiday in the Dominican Republic.

ITV News’ Chris Ship wonders if some of them were Johnson’s constituents wondering why he was on holiday in the first place.

Since he resigned as prime minister in early July, Johnson appears to have been on three foreign holidays.

In August the Johnsons travelled to Slovenia for a stay in a five-star eco-hotel in the Kokra Valley, where rooms cost between £242 and £542 a night. The trip was described as a mini-moon to mark their wedding celebrations.

Days later they headed to Greece for a family holiday and reportedly boarded a private island hopper boat to the island of Evia, before travelling to Nea Makri, a coastal town nearby.

Updated at 06.17 EDT

Tory MP Maria Miller said Boris Johnson must be thinking about whether it is “appropriate” he should enter the leadership contest as he still faces a privileges committee investigation.

Miller, who is backing Penny Mordaunt, told BBC Breakfast:

I certainly think that Boris Johnson would be thinking very long and hard as to whether it would be appropriate to put himself forward to lead our country at a time where … he is still subject to a very serious privileges committee investigation which could ultimately lead to him having to resign as minister.

I am sure he, who has put our country first in his life even when he was sick and in hospital during the pandemic would not want to jeopardise the stability of our country, again that is why I am supporting Penny Mordaunt because I think she brings that stability.

Updated at 05.32 EDT