The race to replace Boris Johnson is tightening, without a candidate having yet taken a decisive advantage. Thursday July 14, after a second round of votes within the college of British Conservative MPs, only five contenders for the presidency of the majority party in the House of Commons – therefore, for the office of Prime Minister of the United United – remained in contention.
Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose resignation on July 5 gave the final blow to a Boris Johnson weakened by the scandals, comes first, with 101 votes. But the Secretary of State for Trade, Penny Mordaunt, almost unknown to the general public, counts 83 and benefits from an astonishing dynamic, while the third serious candidate for the supreme post, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liz Truss, has garnered 64 supporters.
Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat, the two surprises of this internal primary, are probably now too far behind, with 49 and 32 votes respectively, to hold their own during the rounds of votes which will still take place every day, from July 18, until until there are only two candidates left. It will then be up to the 180,000 members of the Conservative Party to decide between the duo, in August – the final result is expected for September 5.
Which of the three favorites – Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt or Liz Truss – will enter Downing Street? No one risks a definitive prognosis in this ultra-rapid campaign, characterized for the time being by the bitterness of the exchanges and the poverty of the debates.
Ostentatious patriotism
Rishi Sunak, 42, is banking on his experience in government and his seriousness – he only promises to lower taxes for the British when inflation is brought under control. Against his will, this convinced Brexiter has become the candidate of the moderate wing of the party. Boris Johnson’s followers are doing everything to defeat him, accusing him of having instrumentalized his fall. Nadine Dorries, the Minister of Culture, accuses him of having participated in a ” cut ” to push the prime minister out.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Minister for Brexit Opportunities, also bluntly called “socialist” Mr. Sunak, an ex-hedge fund manager and one of the country’s wealthiest politicians. Strangely, it is Liz Truss, 46, a former supporter of remaining in the European Union, who has the support of the right wing of the party. It must be said that she zealously defended the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, this bill calling into question important parts of the Brexit treaty, breaking, according to Brussels, with the country’s international commitments.
You have 52.54% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
