(London) Boris Johnson’s successor will be announced on September 5, after a marathon campaign during which the British Prime Minister will not support any of the 11 candidates vying to replace him in Downing Street.
Nominations will open and close on Tuesday, and a first round to start weeding out candidates is scheduled for Wednesday, Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, the Conservative parliamentary group responsible for setting the rules for the ballot, announced Monday evening.
A second round will follow on Thursday, a third if necessary next Monday. The objective is to have only two candidates left before the parliamentary holidays which begin on July 22.
Candidates will need at least 20 endorsements for their candidacy to be accepted, and in each round the support of the vote of at least 30 party MPs.
The final vote to appoint the new leader of the Conservative Party, who will become Prime Minister, with the Conservatives having a majority in the House, is open only to party members.
Boris Johnson announced on Monday that he would not back any candidate, in an already brutal race that for some is expected to last just a few days.
PHOTO STEFAN ROUSSEAU, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boris Johnson leaving Downing Street on Monday morning
“I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s chances by offering my support,” Mr Johnson said in his first public appearance since his resounding resignation last Thursday, prompted by a mutiny in his scandal-weary government and of his lies.
Mr Johnson, who will remain in Downing Street until the arrival of his successor, also affirmed that he was “determined to pursue the mandate entrusted to us” and that the next head of government would have “a very good program to continue. He declined to say if he felt betrayed by the events of the past week. “I don’t want to say anything more about all this,” he added during the visit to a laboratory.
In a very open race, three candidates had the favor of bookmakers on Monday: former finance minister Rishi Sunak, followed by Penny Mordaunt, secretary of state for international trade and foreign minister Liz Truss.
A survey by the Conservative Home site of 842 members gave a slightly different trifecta, with Penny Mordaunt in the lead.
Sunday evening, Liz Truss, 46, had launched into battle, joining Rishi Sunak, 42, and Sajid Javid, former health minister, 52, whose resignations last week had launched the exodus within of the government.
Approached, Interior Minister Priti Patel did not specify her intentions on Monday evening.
Among the heavyweights are also Penny Mordaunt, 49, and newly minted Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, 55, who has already been attacked over the fact that he would, according to press reports, be the subject of a tax investigation. .
Believing that we are trying to “dirty” him, he promised to publish his tax return each year, if he became prime minister.
Billions of promises
With no clear favourite, the race began with a flurry of attacks and empty promises, in a country in the throes of a cost of living crisis with inflation at 9.1%.
Most of the candidates immediately put tax cuts at the heart of their very right-wing campaigns, without explaining how to finance them.
Liz Truss promised to tackle it “from day one”. Rishi Sunak, already violently attacked by Boris Johnson’s allies who accuse him of treason, warned on the contrary against “comforting fairy tales at the moment but which will make the situation of our children worse tomorrow”.
The Labor Party, the main opposition party, calculated that the combined announcements of the candidates represented some 200 billion pounds.
Television channel Sky News announced a debate between the candidates on July 18.
