People are celebrating after Priti Patel ruled herself out of Tory leadership race

Last week, Boris Johnson announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party and a contest to fill his job is now under way.

In total 11 Tory MPs put their names forward in the leadership race, including the two high-profile MPs who began the ill-fated domino effect of resignations, former chancellor Rishi Sunak and former health secretary Sajid Javid.

Members of the Conservatives Party will vote on who the next Prime Minister of the country will be, giving most of the nation very little say.

But, many have rejoiced that it definitely won’t be Home Secretary Priti Patel after she officially ruled herself out of Tory leadership race.

Political journalist Robert Peston tweeted: “@pritipatel⁩ has decided against joining the Tory leadership contest. Her statement is attached.”

The statement read: “I am grateful for the encouragement and support colleagues and Party members have offered me in recent days in suggesting that I enter the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party. I will not be putting my name forward for the ballot of MPs.

“As home secretary I have always put the security and safety of our country and the national interest first and my focus is to continue working to get more police on our streets, support our amazing security services to keep our country safe and control our borders.”

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It’s fair to say many weren’t exactly disappointed by the news, as Patel has faced criticism for her “inhumane” Rwanda scheme and other Home Office immigration policies.

One person tweeted: “Priti Patel has decided not to run for PM to focus on her true passion, bullying immigrants and deporting them to countries they’ve never been to.”

Someone else wrote: “Sweet relief. Quite sure I don't want her brand of ‘values’ running abound as PM.

“Now she can simply concentrate on her regular preoccupation, typically pushing dinghies back out to sea and looking nostalgically back to those hey days of bullying.”

Another person joked: “Priti Patel rules herself out of a bid to replace Boris Johnson, because she's looking to take over Hell instead once Satan retires.”

“I didn't think she stood much chance, realistically, but I am nonetheless relieved to learn that Priti Patel has withdrawn from the race to replace the worst PM in British history,” said someone else.

Earlier today, Johnson loyalists Jacob-Rees Mogg and Nadine Dorries jointly announced that they are supporting foreign secretary Lizz Truss to be leader and PM.

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