UK to get new premier on Sept. 5 as tax cuts dominates contest
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Loading... - Benjamin Rogers
- 12 Jul 2022
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The new U.K. prime minister to replace the outgoing Boris Johnson will be announced on Sept. 5, the ruling Conservative party said Monday, with 11 hopefuls currently vying for the job.
The leadership contest was triggered last week when Johnson, 58, was forced to step down after a frenzy of more than 50 resignations from his government, in opposition to his scandal-hit premiership.
The influential 1922 Committee of nonministerial Tory MPs in Parliament on Monday outlined a timetable for the party's leadership election.
Nominations will officially open and close Tuesday, with a new prime minister set to be installed when Parliament returns from the summer break on Sept. 5, Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, told reporters.
Tory MPs will whittle the current list down to a final two through a series of ballots, with the worst-performing candidate eliminated after each round, before party members choose the winner.
With calls for Johnson to leave Downing Street as soon as possible – and to avoid the process dragging into MPs' summer holidays – the numbers are likely to be pared down quickly to just two.
The joint-executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, Bob Blackman, said they were committed to doing that before Parliament breaks for the summer on July 21.
The first ballot will be held Wednesday, with a second ballot likely Thursday, said Brady.
In a bid to speed up the process, candidates must have at least 20 MPs backing them in order to enter the race, up from the usual eight, and any candidate who fails to get the support of 30 MPs in the first ballot will be eliminated.
Among those running are Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, whose departures as finance minister and health minister sparked the wave of resignations.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Sunak's successor Nadhim Zahawi have also declared, and Home Secretary Priti Patel is reportedly mulling a bid.
But a poll of grassroots members by the influential ConservativeHome website released on Monday showed strong support for less high-profile candidates, with former Defense Minister Penny Mordaunt holding a narrow lead over arch-conservative Kemi Badenoch. Read More…
