They were eight, they are now only six. A week after the announcement of the resignation of Boris Johnson, the number of candidates vying to succeed the British Prime Minister was reduced to six, this Wednesday, July 13, as announced by Graham Brady, head of the committee which organizes voting.
After a first round of voting, reserved for Conservative MPs, the former Minister of Finance Rishi Sunak, 42, whose resignation last week helped spark a haemorrhage of executive departures, won 88 votes. Little known to the general public but on the rise, the Secretary of State for International Trade Penny Mordaunt came second with 67 votes. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Liz Truss46, who has served in every government since 2014 and who is refining her image as the heiress of former ultra-liberal Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, came third with 50 votes.
The other three candidates still in the race, mostly largely unknown to the general public, are MP Tom Tugendhatthe government’s legal adviser (“Attorney General”) Suella Bravermanthe former Secretary of State for Equality Kemi Badenoch.
Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi eliminated
Two contenders were eliminated: Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, a former founder of the YouGov polling institute, who had gained popularity as vaccine minister during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the ex-Minister of Health Jeremy Hunt, finalist in the last election to lead the Conservative Party, in 2019, against Boris Johnson.
With a slogan “PM4PM”, playing on her initials and those of the title of Prime Minister, Penny Mordaunt, 49, launched her campaign on Wednesday by defining herself as the “best chance of winning” for the Conservatives in the next election because she would be “the candidate Labor fears the most”. The patriotic spirit of this Royal Navy reservist, who poses proudly in front of the Union Jack in her campaign photo, seems to speak to the base of the party.
Launching her campaign, Penny Mordaunt compared the Tories to Beatles legend Paul McCartney at Glastonbury Festival. “We indulged in all these new tunes, but what we really wanted was the good old hit that we knew the words to: low tax, low government, personal responsibility,” she said. declared.
A second round of votes is to be held on Thursday July 14, the objective being to designate the two finalists before the end of next week. The winner, elected by party members – 160,000 voters in the last internal election of 2019 – must be known on September 5 in a postal vote.
A YouGov poll carried out on July 12 and 13 among more than 800 party members gives Penny Mordaunt the clear favorite: she obtains 27%, far ahead of Kemi Badenoch (15%), and ahead of Rishi Sunak, tied with Liz Truss, with 13 %. In the final, she would win hands down regardless of her opponent. On the other hand, only 11% of the British (16% among the conservatives) are able to name her by seeing her face, according to another study (Savanta ComRes).
Hearings and televised debates
Boris Johnson resigned on July 7 after around 60 members of his executive slammed the door, tired of repeated scandals and his lies. However, he remains Prime Minister until his successor is known. Facing the deputies of the House of Commons, he said he was “proud” this Wednesday of his record. “It is absolutely true that I am leaving at a time that I did not choose,” he regretted during the weekly question session before Parliament, which was particularly rowdy. “But I leave with my head held high”.
In this campaign as bitter as it is unpredictable, the candidates work hard to convince the deputies in meetings which take place behind closed doors. Several were thus auditioned this Wednesday by Conservative deputies. Several televised debates are also planned in the coming days. The campaign, which is aimed solely at members of the Conservative party, is clearly marked on the right and brings together its share of low blows and controversy.
Among the heavyweights, Rishi Sunak is the subject of virulent attacks from the Johnson camp, which accuses him of having led the Prime Minister to his downfall by launching the wave of resignations on July 4. Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, a fervent supporter of Boris Johnson, thus described him as a “socialist” former chancellor. False, replies the interested party who believes that his economic approach is “Thatcherite common sense”. The faithful of Boris Johnson prefer another admirer of Margaret Thatcher: Liz Truss, who remained in government despite the massive bleeding last week.
The appointment of the new prime minister comes amid a cost-of-living crisis, with British households strangled by inflation, at 9.1%, even as the country’s GDP rebounded 0.5% in May. If the government is to remain in office until the new leader is appointed, it has decided to present a motion of no confidence against itself. Sure of a failure of such a vote, the government thus responded to a motion tabled on Tuesday July 12 by the opposition which considers it “intolerable” that Boris Johnson remains in power until September 2022. This motion was refused by the government deeming a vote targeting a resigning Prime Minister inappropriate.