Boris Johnson exit from Tory leadership race avoids likely humiliation

However much the ex-PM blew his own trumpet he knew he did not have enough MPs on side to get back to No 10

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For all Boris Johnson's habitually coy language about his leadership ambitions, one thing is abundantly clear: he only withdraws from a political race if he thinks he cannot win it. And so it was on Sunday night.

The former prime minister's statement confirming his decision to not stand was a classic of this Johnson genre: equal parts bullish insistence about his own ability to triumph, and a pretend modesty that he is choosing another path for the sake of unity.