BASILDON and Billericay MP John Baron, who at one point considered running for the top job himself, has thrown his backing behind Rishi Sunak in the race to become the Conservatives' new leader and next Prime Minister.

Having pondered and then ruled himself out, Mr Baron initially backed Penny Mordaunt to be the next leader but with just two candidates remaining and the matter due to be decided by rank and file Conservative party members, he says the former Chancellor is the best placed contender, rathen than Liz Tuss.

Mr Baron says: "While both candidates offer positive agendas, I am backing Rishi Sunak to be our next leader and Prime Minister. He is a conviction politician who took the considerable risk of backing Brexit early in his parliamentary career when the party was against leaving the EU, and his impressive performance at No 11 during the pandemic shows that he has the skills and ability to get us through tough times."

"Rishi also speaks much sense about tax, and I know his instinct is to cut taxes and take other steps to support businesses across the United Kingdom as he did during the pandemic."