The tremors of recent days have shown how divided Britain’s Conservative Party is, after 12 years of exhausted rule and the succession of Liz Truss as party leader and prime minister. How hard will it be to unite?
Rishi Sunak, a former prime minister who opposed Ms Truss last summer and warned that her financial proposals would create chaos, is in the extreme position, has led the Ministry of Finance and operations. well under pressure during the election campaign. But he lost that election in large part because many party members blamed him for bringing down Boris Johnson, whom he resigned from in his cabinet.
“The obvious candidate is Rishi Sunak,” says Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “The question is whether they can forgive him. The situation is extremely dire now so everyone can be prepared to forgive his alleged sins.”
However, that remains unclear as Mr Sunak also distrusts the party’s rights and among hardline Brexit supporters in Parliament. His leadership will be difficult to please some of his opponents, including the business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who once refused to deny reports that he had described Mr. Sunak’s policies. , including tax increases, is “socialist”.
Mr Johnson’s supporters argue that because of his landslide election victory in 2019, he has a mandate to lead without holding another general election. Under the hashtag #bringbackboris, one of his supporters, James Duddridge, wrote on Twitter: “I hope you enjoyed your boss’s holiday. Time to go back. Some problems at the office need to be resolved. “
But Mr Johnson late on Sunday withdrew from the race to succeed Ms Truss, leaving Mr Sunak a commanding post.
Reinstating Mr Johnson would be risky, given his forced resignation in July and the fact that he remains a polarizing figure among voters. Mr Johnson is also being investigated by a parliamentary committee into whether he misled the House of Commons about parties being held in Downing Street that broke pandemic rules. The committee could recommend the expulsion or suspension of Mr Johnson from Parliament – a penalty that could mean his voters get a vote on whether to remove him from Parliament altogether. or not.
The party’s ideological divisions were exposed by leaving home secretary Suella Braverman in a letter written after she was fired last week, apparently for breach of protection regulations confidentiality in sending a government document via her personal email. She alleges that Ms. Truss was opposed to promises and soft on immigration.
Ms Braverman’s farewell photograph illustrated resistance from rightists to what they see as the growing influence of the newly appointed prime minister, Jeremy Hunt, a moderate who voted against Brexit and is a supporter and ally of Mr. Sunak. Mr Hunt, who has twice run for party leader, said he would not be the candidate this time.
If the Conservatives let Downing Street fall into the hands of another uncontested candidate, outside the mainstream, like Ms Braverman or perhaps Kemi Badenoch, who currently serves as international trade minister, it could be. There will be new instability in the financial markets.
