Posted in: 13/07/2022 – 22:54
Conservative Party lawmakers have launched an internal election to reduce the number of candidates to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister to keep two candidates vying for the post whose winner will be announced next September. Six candidates remained in the race in an electoral battle characterized by intense competition and exchanging insults. Ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak appears to be the favorite to take over the position following leading the first round of voting.
Amidst accusations of dishonest practices, he set off British Conservative Party Wednesday to reduce the number of candidates to succeed the Prime Minister Boris Johnson From eight to two gradually.
Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak topped the list of MPs seeking to succeed Johnson at the helm of the Conservative Party, following a first round of voting on Wednesday, in which party lawmakers participated, as the number of candidates was reduced to six, with two of them excluded.
Sunak, who resigned as finance minister last week and helped oust Johnson, garnered 88 votes, ahead of former Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who received 67 votes and came second, and Secretary of State Liz Truss, with 50 votes.
Three other candidates managed to cross the 30-vote threshold: former Equality Minister Kimi Badenok with 40 votes, Representative Tom Tugendhat with 37 votes and Attorney General Suila Braverman with 32 votes.
Former Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, who challenged Johnson in the 2019 elections, as well as newly appointed Finance Minister Nazim Al-Zahawi, excluded Conservative Party MPs from the race following they failed to cross the minimum vote threshold.
Another round of voting is scheduled for Thursday, as the ruling Conservative Party tries by next week to filter the list of candidates and keep only two of them, so that a party leader will be chosen from among them with the participation of all members.
The election battle was characterized by intense competition and the exchange of abuse between the candidates, which prompted the loser Jeremy Hunt to warn the other contenders that “smear and attacks may bring short-term tactical victories, but they always backfire in the long run.”
Labor sought Wednesday to force a vote of no-confidence in the House of Commons once morest Johnson, saying the United Kingdom might not afford weeks of internal strife in the Conservative Party due to the livelihood crisis and other challenges, such as the war in Ukraine.
But the government refused to allow a margin to discuss the labor endeavor, in a move that constitutional experts described as unprecedented.
Johnson was forced last week to step down After a major uprising once morest him within his government, including Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, once morest the backdrop of a series of scandals that led to a decline in popular support for the conservatives in the polls.
Johnson’s fall was resounding for a politician who won a landslide victory in the legislative elections held in December 2019 and took the United Kingdom out of the European Union a month later, until the Covid pandemic reached Britain.
Critics
While Johnson has said he will not support any candidate, his loyal supporters have criticized Sunak, the favorite to succeed him, and lobbied for the right-wing Secretary of State Liz Truss.
Sunak’s camp denied planning to boost the chances of less competitive candidates in an effort to block others with more chances, such as Terrace, before the final vote of party members.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps, who withdrew from the race in support of Sunak, countered accusations leveled at his candidate that he was a “socialist advisor” for overseeing a major support package during the pandemic.
Sunak has since stressed the need to find a balance in public finances, in contrast to the tax exemptions package promised by his competitors, which raised the concerns of the Central Bank and economic experts.
In her first speech as a candidate to succeed Johnson, Mordaunt on Wednesday emphasized national issues in a video that was removed following complaints by people who appeared in it without their consent.
The Royal Navy Reserve said that when she was nine years old, watching a naval force leave Portsmouth to retake the Falkland Islands (British and Malwin) from Buenos Aires inspired her to join the corps.
“I think our party has lost its sense of self,” Mordaunt said, likening the Conservatives to the Beatles star Paul McCartney, who sparked a fire at the Glastonbury music festival last month.
Braverman, considered an outsider in the race, denied that the current criticism was hurting conservatives in the long run.
FRANCE 24/AFP/Archyde.com
