United Kingdom: six candidates still in the race to succeed Boris Johnson, Sunak in the lead

Europe 1 with AFP 10:39 p.m., July 13, 2022

Six candidates were still in the running on Wednesday to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after a first round of voting in which Conservative MPs put ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak in the lead.

Nearly a week after the announcement of the resignation of Boris Johnson, swept away by a series of scandals, two of the eight contenders have been eliminated from the race to succeed him at the head of the Conservative party and ultimately in Downing Street.

Ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak, 42, whose resignation last week helped spark a haemorrhage of executive departures, landed 88 votes, according to results reported by Graham Brady, who leads the committee that organizes the internal ballot.

Also Penny Mordaunt

Little known to the general public, but on the rise, Secretary of State for International Trade Penny Mordaunt came second with 67 votes, ahead of Foreign Minister Liz Truss (50 votes).

A second round of votes is due to be held on Thursday, the aim being to designate 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 - should be known on September 5.

According to a YouGov poll on Wednesday of Conservative voters, Penny Mordaunt would come out on top in voting intentions and beat all her rivals in the event of a duel.

In camera debates

Launching her campaign on Wednesday, Penny 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.

Other candidates still in the running, mostly largely unknown to the general public, are MP Tom Tugendhat, Attorney General Suella Braverman, ex-Equality Secretary Kemi Badenoch .

New Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi and former Health Minister Jeremy Hunt were eliminated on Wednesday.

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.

Boris Johnson "proud" of his record

Facing the deputies in the House of Commons, he said he was "proud" of his record on Wednesday.

“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 rowdy.

"But I leave with my head held high".

In this campaign as bitter as it is unpredictable, the candidates work hard to convince 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.