Tory Battle to Succeed Johnson Takes Shape as Patel Opts Out

The race to succeed Boris Johnson as UK prime minister is taking shape as two Conservative big hitters, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, opted out ahead of the first round of voting.

Patel’s move is likely to favor Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s bid to be the preferred candidate of the low-tax, Thatcherite wing of the Tory party that is mobilizing to prevent the current front-runner, Rishi Sunak, from being named prime minister when the contest concludes in September.

Meanwhile Sunak gained the backing of both Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Shapps, who ...