LONDON – The UK’s ruling Conservative Party has begun its race to find the country’s next leader and next prime minister, with eight candidates currently running for the top job.
All candidates must win the initial support of at least 20 Conservative lawmakers to advance to Wednesday’s first round of voting.
To reduce the number of candidates to just two, more votes will take place – starting Wednesday – with 358 Conservative MPs asked to choose their favorite candidate to take over the party.
Any candidate who receives less than 30 votes from his fellow MPs will be disqualified in the first round of voting. Then in the second round, the candidates with the fewest votes will be eliminated. These rounds of voting continue until two candidates are left, which is expected to take place later this week.
When two candidates remained, all members of the Conservative Party (about 200,000 people) were asked to vote by postal ballot for their favorite candidate. Winners are expected to be announced on September 5.
Rishi Sunak speaks to kick off his bid to become leader of the Conservative Party on July 12, 2022 in London, England. The former Prime Minister is the second senior minister to resign from Boris Johnson’s cabinet last week, setting off the upheaval that prompted Johnson to step down as Leader of the Conservative Party.
Court Carl | Getty Images News | beautiful pictures
The eight candidates include famous faces, such as former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak – one of the favorites to win – and Foreign Minister Liz Truss and new Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, as well as those with poorer records such as Tom Tugendhat, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch.
Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is also in the race, as is Penny Mordaunt, international trade minister, one of the other candidates favored by grassroots party activists. Sajid Javid, the former Health Secretary, withdrew from the leadership race on Tuesday.
Showing divisions between Tory MPs and those among more grass-roots Conservatives and activists, Penny Mordaunt, the former Defense Secretary, topped the poll of party members. Tory this week on who will be the next leader, with 20% of the vote.
Former local government minister Kemi Badenoch is seen with 19% of the vote, followed by Rishi Sunak with 12%, according to a poll of more than 800 Tory party members on Tuesday by the Conservative Home website.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “If Putin succeeds, there will be countless more miseries across Europe and dire consequences globally.
Mateusz Wlodarczyk | Nurphoto | beautiful pictures
Tuesday night, eight candidates have 12 minutes each to try to convince their fellow MPs why they should be the next leader of the party and country. Some have promised tax cuts and party unity following the dramatic demise of Boris Johnson, who remains prime minister but only in a caretaker role while his replacement is found.
Summing up the economic impacts of candidates expected to conduct at least a second round of voting, Daiwa Capital Markets said that “at the time of writing, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak considered it difficult to make it to the second round. will most likely face a challenger from the populist right – most likely Secretary of State Liz Truss or Secretary of Commerce Penny Mordaunt.”
“While Sunak has argued against any recent easing of fiscal policy, Truss, Mordaunt and others have argued for an unreimbursed tax cut, which is seen as abusive. inflation and is likely to lead to more monetary tightening than in the case of Sunak Daiwa said in a note on Tuesday.
Open race
The leadership contest comes after Johnson stepped down as party leader last week after months of controversy over his conduct while in office. His government has been plagued by party-related scandals during the Covid-19 lockdown, and several party officials have been implicated in horrifying accusations.
A final takeaway for many MPs who had previously supported Johnson, despite his less-than-usual leadership style, was his appointment of a deputy (responsible for party discipline), who had prior sexual misconduct allegations against him that Johnson was aware of. That led to a wave of resignations with ministers and officials saying Johnson was no longer commanding their confidence.
Describing Johnson’s departure as a “Bjexit”, Ian Bremmer, chairman of the Eurasia Group, commented this week that “shortly, UK policy was paralyzed by lack of care by the government. mandate (whether led by Johnson or under a new caretaker prime minister)” and economic, foreign and defense policy “essentially at a standstill until new leadership comes in the fall.” .”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at Downing Street in London, Britain, July 7, 2022.
Henry Nicholls | Reuters
“It’s an open race for the fall … but either way, Johnson’s two most important foreign policy initiatives – on Europe and on Ukraine – are not going to change. , there is no path for a softer policy in Europe, even on the controversial Northern Ireland issue, among top-position competitors,” Bremmer noted on Monday.
European leaders, and especially French President Emmanuel Macron, are happy to see Johnson’s backing and will be less likely to mess with personal diplomacy with his successor, but the overarching UK-EU relationship will remain significantly stressful, Bremmer added.
“That leaves a lot of uncertainty at home – such as fiscal easing and corporate tax policy. But I don’t see anyone leading the UK to lead more drama than the old Blighty.”
