Six candidates are still in the running, Wednesday July 13, to succeed outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. After a first round of voting, Conservative MPs put ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak in the lead. Two of the eight contenders have been eliminated from the Tory leadership race, and ultimately out of 10 Downing Street: new finance minister Nadhim Zahawi and former health minister Jeremy Hunt.
Rishi Sunak, 42, whose resignation last week helped trigger a haemorrhage of executive departures, landed 88 votes, according to results reported by Graham Brady, who heads the committee organizing the internal ballot. Little known but rising, Secretary of State for International Trade Penny Mordaunt came second with 67 votes, followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (50 votes).
“Good Old Hit”
A second round of voting is due to be held on Thursday, with the aim of nominating 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.
According to a YouGov poll published on Wednesday, carried out among conservative voters, Penny Mordaunt would arrive at the top of the voting intentions and would beat all her rivals in the event of a duel. Launching her campaign on Wednesday, the 40-year-old 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 lyrics to: low tax, low state, personal responsibility. »
Boris Johnson leaves “with his head held high”
Other candidates still in the running, mostly largely unknown to the general public, are MP Tom Tugendhat, Government Legal Adviser (“Attorney General”) Suella Braverman, and ex-Secretary of State for Equality Kemi Badenoch.
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 members of the House of Commons, he said to himself ” iron “ Wednesday of its balance sheet. “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 hectic. “But I leave with my head held high. »