Priti Patel, who served as British Home Secretary in former prime minister Boris Johnson's Cabinet, on Saturday endorsed her ex-boss as the best-placed candidate to replace Liz Truss at 10 Downing Street.
The Indian-origin MP, who had remained conspicuously silent over her choice of Conservative Party leader in the last leadership contest between Truss and Rishi Sunak, said Johnson had the public mandate from the 2019 general election to deliver for the Tories.
The 50-year-old politician took to Twitter to say that the former prime minister had a “proven track record” of getting the big decisions right, in an apparent attempt to override the partygate scandal of COVID lockdown law-breaking parties that critics have flagged as a major factor against a Johnson comeback.
“Boris has the mandate to deliver our elected manifesto and a proven track record getting the big decisions right. I'm backing him in the leadership contest,” she tweeted.