Eight candidates vying to succeed Boris Johnson

Ex-minister of Finance, Rishi Sunak, is one of the favorites to succeed Boris Johnson.

The race to Downing Street has officially begun and they are eight Conservative candidates to try to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson after obtaining the necessary number of sponsorships on Tuesday.

Unsurprisingly, ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak, former defense minister Penny Mordaunt, head of diplomacy Liz Truss and MP Tom Tugendhat easily got the 20 endorsements needed to be officially candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party – and therefore for the post of prime minister – the 1922 Committee, the Conservative parliamentary group responsible for establishing the rules of the ballot, announced on Tuesday.

Newly appointed Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, Attorney General Suella Braverman, ex-Equality Secretary Kemi Badenoch and former Health Minister Jeremy Hunt are also in attendance. lice.

Boris Johnson resigned on Thursday after about 60 members of his executive slammed the door, tired of repeated scandals. However, he remains Prime Minister until his successor is known on September 5.

As of Wednesday, the eight candidates will have to rally 30 deputies to their cause if they want to pass the first round of voting. A second round is scheduled for Thursday and another, if necessary, for Monday.

The objective is to have only two candidates left before the parliamentary recess which begins on 22nd of July. The name of the future Prime Minister will be known in September after a final vote open to party members.

Tuesday morning, they were still eleven to be candidates to succeed Boris Johnson, but three of them, including the former Minister of Health Sajid Javid withdrew as the closing of the deposit of candidatures approached .

The bookmakers place elbow-to-elbow Mr. Sunak and Mrs. Mordaunt, followed by Mrs. Truss.

Penny Mordaunt is considered Rishi Sunak's main opponent at the start of the race.

In launching his candidacy on Tuesday, Mr Sunak was careful not to criticize Mr Johnson, refusing to demonize Boris, exaggerate his faults and deny his efforts.

The 42-year-old former finance minister resigned with a bang from the government last week, taking with him around 60 other members of the x27;executive and in finethe resignation of the prime minister. He is criticized by Mr Johnson's backers, who accuse him of having led the Prime Minister to his downfall.

The campaign went as far as It's limited to bombastic launch videos, vague promises — with most candidates claiming they'll implement tax cuts without explaining how they'll fund them — and polemics of all kinds.

Mr. Zahawi, 55, felt that they were trying to smear him when the press reported that he was the subject of a tax investigation. He has promised to publish his tax return every year if he becomes prime minister.

Unlike his rivals, Mr Sunak has been cautious about tax cuts amid high inflation. It's a matter of "when", not "if", he however reassured, preaching for honesty and responsibility, not fairy tales.

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Mr. Sunak had been criticized when he was finance minister for not doing enough to relieve British households strangled by the cost of living crisis.

After a vote by Party members Conservative, the name of the future Prime Minister will be known on September 5.

Too late, says Labour, which tabled a no-confidence motion in parliament on Tuesday, saying it was intolerable that Mr Johnson would stay in power until the end of the summer.

But the government refused to give Parliament debate time for such a vote to take place, Labor said, denouncing a flagrant abuse of power .

Given that the prime minister has already resigned and a process [to replace him] is underway, we don't think he will. Acts as a useful use of parliamentary time, justified Downing Street, which believes that a Labor no-confidence motion could be debated if it did not target the Prime Minister individually.

It is unlikely, however, that such a motion will be supported by many Tories. If successful, it would trigger a general election in which the Conservatives could lose the large majority they obtained in 2019, in the wake of the election of a then ultra-popular Boris Johnson.