The number of candidates for the British Prime Minister race was reduced to two yesterday. Neither of them will necessarily bring change to, for example, the country’s contentious EU relations.
LONDON – Britain survived a record heat wave, but the race for the country’s prime minister is heating up even more. There are only two candidates left, the former finance minister Rishi Sunak Minister of Agriculture Liz Truss.
Forced to divorce in Highgate, North London Boris Johnson the successor is already eagerly awaited.
– Johnson didn’t do a good job, so goodbye. In Britain, we now need to focus more seriously on, for example, treating the adverse effects of inflation instead of arguing unnecessarily, says Sarah Hare.
Cost of living crisis is, according to research, the number one concern of the British.
Many believe that former finance minister Rishi Sunak has the skills in question. But according to a recent survey, the membership of the Conservative Party, which chooses the prime minister, has tilted in the direction of Liz Truss, who promises tax cuts.
Even the International Monetary Fund IMF has warned (you will switch to another service) Britain on the dangers of tax cuts, but for members of the Conservative Party the promise is attractive, explains the professor of politics Tim Bale.
– Tax cuts during peak inflation may be a bad idea, but they fit the ideology of the Conservative Party.
In addition to financial issues the conservatives also carefully weigh the immigration and EU opinions of the prime ministerial candidates. For the party members choosing the Prime Minister, these questions are more important than for the average British people, explains Tim Bale, who has written several books about the Conservatives.
– Party members are still almost obsessed with Brexit and interested in issues like the fight against “woke culture”.
Among the candidates, Liz Truss now enjoys the support of conservative hardline EU dissidents, but Rishi Sunak campaigned for Brexit already in 2016. Tim Bale doubts that neither of the candidates will bring a big change to the line indicated by Boris Johnson, for example on EU issues.
– I believe that the confrontation and argument with the EU will continue, because both have to prove their credibility as “Brexiteers”. In addition, Boris Johnson’s term moved the Conservative Party towards a populist more radical right-wing approach, for example on immigration issues.
The new leader of the British Conservative Party has a lot of work to do, as the opposition Labor Party currently has a clear lead in opinion polls. However, there is still time, as the deadline for the next parliamentary election is only January 2025.
The Conservative majority in the British Parliament is so strong that it will be difficult to force them into an election earlier than this. The leader elected by around 170,000 members of the Conservative Party may therefore rule Britain for a long time, even though the membership makes up less than half a percent of the British electorate.
Tim Bale, who has followed the Conservatives for a long time, does not have a favorite in the prime ministerial race, but he has hope for something better.
– I hope that there will be even a little more honesty in British politics after Boris Johnson’s time. That would be a lot, says Tim Bale
Members of the Conservative Party will elect their new leader, who will become Britain’s new Prime Minister, on September 5.