With her resignation, British Prime Minister Liz Truss has triggered another search for a successor in the Conservative Party. One thing is clear: the party wants to do this as quickly as possible. On this point General Secretary Jake Berry and MP Graham Brady, chairman of the “1922 Committee” that organizes the competition, agree. Truss’ successor is to be presented as early as next Friday. An important event is scheduled for the following Monday: the government is to present its economic program. The aim is to avoid as far as possible the mistakes made in September with the so-called mini-budget, when the markets were shaken and the pound plummeted.
The last search for a leader – who will then also become prime minister – is still fresh in the party’s memory. It was only in July of this year that Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned and gave the go-ahead for the race.
Eleven MPs threw their hats in the ring, eight of them were able to convince at least 20 of their group colleagues and were nominated. Parliamentarians then threw out candidate after candidate in multiple votes until only Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss were left.
“It’s time for a new election”
The two then faced party members for a month, who ultimately elected Truss as leader. On September 6, she was entrusted with forming a government by the then Queen Elizabeth II. The whole search had lasted almost two months. This should now be avoided in view of the country’s severe economic problems. “We are very aware of the need, in the interests of the national interest, to get this sorted out very quickly and clearly,” Brady said on Thursday.
Therefore there will be new rules for the candidate search. As it became known on Thursday evening, twenty votes are no longer sufficient for a nomination, and candidates need the support of at least 100 MPs to take part in the competition. The “1922 Committee” has been accepting the proposals since the night, the application deadline is Monday at 3 p.m. If there is only one candidate who gets enough votes, he would automatically become party leader and thus also prime minister.
Should there be three candidates – more is not possible with 365 Conservatives in the House of Commons – a vote in the parliamentary group should take place on Monday. The candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated from the race. The vote should take place between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., so a result would be expected around 7 p.m. Then there should be a vote to make the preference of the MPs clear.
The final decision between the last two candidates is to be left to party members – just 0.3 per cent of the UK electorate. They could then take part in an online vote up to 12 noon on Friday to nominate their favorite party leader and next Prime Minister of Great Britain.
It is not yet clear which MPs will stand for election. Rishi Sunak is expected to compete again. Former Minister Penny Mordaunt, who also received more than 100 MP votes in July, is also a possible candidate. The name of Interior Minister Suella Braverman, who resigned on Wednesday, is also mentioned. She was also in the running in July, but dropped out in the second round of voting. A return of Boris Johnson is also possible. He’s still popular at the party’s grassroots level, and there are already MPs who publicly support him. However, there are also opponents of this idea, as Johnson is associated with too many scandals.
The opposition will not like this procedure. They have been calling for a new election since Boris Johnson resigned in July. After the announcement on Thursday, these demands have become louder again. Keir Starmer, the Labor leader, wrote in a statement that the Conservatives no longer had a “mandate for a government”. “It’s time for a new election,” said Starmer.