Acting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street for Parliament on July 13. /
The primaries of the Conservative Party illuminate the advance of ethnic minorities and the confirmation of women
After the first debate on television, on Friday, among the five candidates to be leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a poll identified Tom Tugendhat as the public’s favorite. He was the least voted by the deputies on Thursday, in the last round to purge the list and present the two chosen ones to the party members.
The ex-military man had already been applauded by the audience present in the Channel 4 television studio. When the presenter asked the candidates if Boris Johnson is honest, they digressed to formulate their best answer. Tugendhat responded with a simple ‘no’ and the audience applauded. Confidence in politicians is an issue that is mentioned in this campaign.
The issue that provokes the most discussion is, however, that of taxation. In reality, Tugendhat, Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch promise nothing more than gifts to their voters – reduction of VAT on fuel, elimination of green charges on the energy bill – without presenting for the moment a philosophy radically different from that of the favorite, the former minister Treasury, Rishi Sunak.
The current head of Foreign Affairs, Liz Truss, is the advocate of a different policy. She battles Mordaunt for second place. She has the support of Johnson and allies of the acting prime minister; she also of radical ‘brexiters’, although in the 2016 referendum Truss campaigned for permanence in the European Union and expressed herself in dramatic terms on the march.
He receives the support of Johnson’s loyalists, who unite against Sunak, whom they accuse of disloyalty. And he is also supported by those who believe that the departure of the EU does not make sense if the United Kingdom does not free itself from regulations inherited by belonging to the common market for four decades, and generate the growth that low taxation would cause.
A victory for Sunak, who in order to alleviate the indebtedness of the pandemic has increased taxes on companies and individuals, creating a fiscal pressure only comparable to that of the years after World War II, would maintain his eclectic policy. A Truss victory would bring the UK closer to the goal of becoming a shadow of Singapore. The victory of the others would not cause earthquakes.
There are no differences on the goal of net zero emissions in 2050. Nor has any of the candidates moved away from the bill that would annul a good part of the Irish Protocol, which allowed the EU Withdrawal Agreement to be signed. None have distanced themselves from the ‘Johnsonian’ policy of matching the economy of the north with that of the south, or with the controversial deportation of immigrants or refugees to Rwanda
diverse origins
Never in the history of Britain’s major political parties has there been an election for national leader with so many candidates from immigrant families. Among the initial eleven, there were seven: two of Pakistani origin, a Bengali, an Indian, a Jew, a Nigerian and an Iraqi. Among the remaining five, there are two, Sunak, an Indian family, and Badenoch, a Nigerian.
Three women remain in the process, which resumes this Monday. The Conservative Party has promoted two women as leaders and prime ministers: Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1990, and Theresa May, 2016-19. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has had Nicola Sturgeon as leader and chief minister since 2014. The Liberal Democrats had Jo Swinson as leader on the opposition benches from July to December 2019. The Labor Party has never had a female leader. .
This election procedure was introduced in the Conservative Party in 2001, after the crushing defeat of the Conservatives led by William Hague. The young politician, beaten at the polls by Tony Blair, had changed the rules, giving the last word to the members of the party. On two occasions, Michael Howard in 2013 and May in 2016, only one candidate remained after the parliamentary group procedure.
Distrust in politicians may have increased, but there is no doubt about the increase in transparency. Before the Conservatives introduced this method of electing their leaders, there was a parliamentary group vote on the candidates and the one with the most votes was elected, on the condition that they outrank the second by 15% of the vote.
Until 1965, the election of a new leader was also restricted to the parliamentary group, but the decision was made behind closed doors, consulting in a cabal of a few days between powerful men and others who wanted to be. This is how judges were also appointed until recently, and the result was courts with a reputation for independence.
Parliament demands the ‘partygate’ documents from the ‘premier’
The scandal known as ‘partygate’ that led to the resignation of Boris Johnson last week, continues to haunt the acting British prime minister. The Committee on Privileges of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom has given him until August 15 to deliver to the deputies investigating the scandal all the documents that prove the celebration of parties in Downing Street in full confinement imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The parliamentarians have demanded from the Government WhatsApp messages and the images taken by Johnson’s official photographer, Andrew Parsons, during the dates on which the holidays were celebrated. Among the required documents are also the diaries of the ‘premier’ in the period in which the controversial celebrations took place, according to information published by the newspaper ‘The Guardian’. Similarly, the commission has requested details of any relevant documents known to have existed and later removed.
The evidence that is collected could further cast a shadow over the legacy of Johnson, who in addition to the parties in Downing Street was fined by the Police for a meeting for his 56th birthday. The acting chief executive, who has apologized, denies deliberately misleading Parliament and maintains that he did not realize that he was breaking the rules.