Rory Stewart, who challenged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Conservative Party earlier this year, announced Friday that he is leaving Parliament and the Conservatives to enter the 2020 race for mayor of London as an independent.
The big picture: Stewart's surprise announcement comes after he gained something of a cult following with an unorthodox leadership campaign, though he ultimately finished 5th. After Johnson expelled him and 20 other MPs from the party last month for defying him over Brexit, he floated the idea of a new centrist party along the lines of French President Emmanuel Macron's En Marche.
