PAlmost a week after his resignation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was leaving Downing Street “with his head held high” as the eight candidates for his succession go through a first vote to decide between them on Wednesday.
Facing the deputies in the House of Commons, Mr. Johnson said he was “proud” of his record. “It is absolutely true that I am leaving at a time that I did not choose,” he regretted during a session of questions to the Prime Minister particularly rowdy. “But I leave with my head held high.”
The race for his succession is accelerating and it is now former Defense Minister Penny Mordaunt who appears as the favorite. According to a YouGov poll on Wednesday carried out among Conservative voters, the Secretary of State for International Trade, little known to the British, comes first in voting intentions and would beat all her rivals in the event of a duel.
Mr. 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 on 5 September.
After having obtained the necessary sponsorships to get started, eight conservative candidates for his succession must secure the vote of 30 deputies on Wednesday in a first vote, the result of which is expected at the end of the afternoon.
In view of the known public support, Penny Mordaunt, the former finance minister Rishi Sunak and the head of diplomacy Liz Truss should reach this threshold but other candidates could also pass this course.
In camera debates
Launching her campaign on Wednesday, Ms Mordaunt, 49, 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.
The other candidates, mostly largely unknown to the general public, are MP Tom Tugendhat, new Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, Government Legal Adviser (“Attorney General”) Suella Braverman, the former Secretary of State for Equality Kemi Badenoch and former Health Minister Jeremy Hunt.
If more than two candidates pass the first vote on Wednesday, a second round will be organized on Thursday and if necessary a third in the following days, until only two candidates remain before the parliamentary recess on July 22.
The final vote to appoint the future Prime Minister will be conducted by correspondence and open to party members -160,000 voters in the last internal election of 2019.
In the meantime, the candidates are busy convincing the deputies in meetings which take place behind closed doors. Several were thus auditioned on Wednesday by Conservative MPs. Several televised debates are also planned in the coming days.
Brutal Campaign
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 the former finance minister as a “socialist” chancellor.
False, retorts the interested party who considers that his economic approach is “Thatcherite common sense”, in reference to the former ultraliberal Prime Minister.
The faithful of Boris Johnson prefer another admirer of 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 intends to respond to a motion tabled Tuesday by the opposition which considers it “intolerable” that Boris Johnson remains in power until September. This motion was refused by the government, considering it inappropriate to vote for a resigning Prime Minister.
07/13/2022 15:52:34 – London (AFP) – © 2022 AFP