Boris Johnson’s decision to step down as UK prime minister triggered a contest among members of the Conservative Party jostling to replace him. DANIEL ABEL examines the 11 people who have so far thrown their hats in the ring for the top job.
Britain’s new prime minister will be announced on September 5, with the first votes to begin eliminating candidates in a crowded and increasingly unpredictable and divisive contest to replace Boris Johnson coming this week.
So far, 11 candidates have thrown their hat in the ring to succeed Johnson as leader of the ruling Conservative Party and prime minister after he quit following a dramatic rebellion by his own lawmakers and ministers after a series of scandals.
The 1922 committee of Conservative members of parliament (MPs) which organises the leadership contest said hopefuls would need at least 20 nominations from the party’s 358 lawmakers to even proceed to the first round of votes on Wednesday.
Anyone who then received less than 30 votes will be eliminated before another vote follows on Thursday.
According to Reuters, nearly all the contenders have promised extensive tax cuts to win over the support of their colleagues.
“I am very keen we get this concluded as smoothly, cleanly, and rapidly as possible,” said Graham Brady, the committee’s chair.
The field will be whittled down to a final two candidates by lawmakers, before a postal ballot of the Conservative Party’s members, who number fewer than 200,000, takes place over the summer.
A poll for the Conservative Home website on Monday found former defence minister Penny Mordaunt was the most popular with members, followed by British-Nigerian Kemi Badenoch and Rishi Sunak, whose resignation as finance minister helped bring down Johnson.
However, it is imperative to note that there is no clear favourite and the candidates are not listed in order of likely prospects. The rules of the Conservative Party leadership contest will be announced this week.
The candidates include:
KEMI BADENOCH
Badenoch is a British politician of Nigerian decent. Badenoch was equalities minister and local government, faith and communities minister before resigning last week.
The former banker was urged to resign by LGBT groups over an alleged delay in banning so-called gay conversion therapy while she was equalities minister.
Badenoch has promised a “focus on the essentials”. She has promised tax cuts and low regulation, while being critical of net zero emissions target in her leadership bid.
She was elected to parliament for the first time in 2017. Badenoch has held junior ministerial jobs, including most recently minister for equalities, but has never served in cabinet.
A former Conservative member of the London Assembly, she has also served as vice-chair of the Conservative Party. Badenoch supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum.
SUELLA BRAVERMAN
As attorney general, Braverman, 42, was heavily criticised by lawyers after the government sought to break international law over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.
She campaigned to leave the EU and served as a junior minister in the Brexit department under previous Prime Minister Theresa May, but resigned in protest at her proposed Brexit deal, saying it did not go far enough in breaking ties with the bloc.
JEREMY HUNT
The former foreign secretary, 55, finished second to Johnson in the 2019 leadership contest to replace May. He would offer a more serious and less controversial style of leadership after the turmoil of Johnson’s premiership.
Over the last two years, Hunt has used his experience as a former health secretary to chair parliament’s health select committee and has not been tarnished by having served in the current government. Hunt said he voted to oust Johnson in a confidence vote last month that the prime minister narrowly won.
He has pledged tax cuts, including a cut to corporation tax to 15 percent. He says he favours cuts for businesses because they could help spur economic growth, while tax cuts for consumers might be inflationary. Hunt supported remaining in the EU ahead of the 2016 vote.
SAJID JAVID
Javid was the first cabinet minister to resign in protest over accusations that Johnson misled the public over what he knew about sexual harassment allegations against a Conservative lawmaker.
A former banker and a champion of free markets, Javid has served in a number of cabinet roles, most recently as health minister. He resigned as Johnson’s finance minister in 2020. The son of Pakistani Muslim immigrant parents, he is an admirer of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and finished fourth in the 2019 party leadership contest.
Javid also said he would cut corporation tax to 15 percent, reverse a rise in National Insurance and bring forward a one pence tax in income tax to next year. Javid supported remaining in the EU saying he feared the fallout from a leave vote would add to economic turbulence.
PENNY MORDAUNT
The former defence secretary was sacked by Johnson when he became prime minister after she endorsed his rival, Hunt, during the 2019 leadership contest.
Mordaunt, 49, was a passionate supporter of leaving the EU and said that she would aim to deliver the benefits of Brexit and recover from recent economic shocks such as the pandemic.
Currently a junior trade minister, Mordaunt called the COVID lockdown-breaking parties in government “shameful” and has said that if she is prime minister, leadership has to change to be less about the leader.
REHMAN CHISHTI
A member of parliament since 2010, Chishti was appointed a junior minister in the Foreign Office by Johnson this month, after the prime minister announced he would be stepping down. He has never held any other ministerial roles.
RISHI SUNAK
Sunak announced his leadership bid on Friday with a campaign video in which he promised to confront the difficult economic backdrop with “honesty, seriousness and determination”, rather than piling the burden on future generations.
Sunak, 42, became finance minister in early 2020 and was praised for a COVID-19 economic rescue package, including a costly jobs retention programme that averted mass unemployment.
But he later faced criticism for not giving enough cost-of-living support to households. Revelations this year about his wealthy wife’s non-domiciled tax status, and a fine he received for breaking COVID lockdown rules, have damaged his standing.
His tax-and-spend budget last year put Britain on course for its biggest tax burden since the 1950s, undermining his claims to favour lower taxes.
Sunak voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
LIZ TRUSS
The foreign secretary has been the darling of the Conservative Party’s grassroots and has regularly topped polls of party members carried out by the website Conservative Home.
Truss has a carefully cultivated public image and was photographed in a tank last year, echoing a famous 1986 photo of Thatcher.
She spent the first two years of Johnson’s premiership as international trade secretary and is now in charge of dealing with the EU over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, where she has taken an increasingly tough line in negotiations.
Truss initially campaigned against Brexit but after the 2016 referendum said she had changed her mind.
TOM TUGENDHAT
The chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, and a former soldier who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, he is relatively untested because he has never served in cabinet.
Tugendhat has been a regular critic of Johnson and would offer his party a clean break with previous governments.
He says he is a low tax Conservative who did not support the rise in National Insurance, and has said fuel tax is “crippling” for many people. He voted to remain in the EU.
NADHIM ZAHAWI
The newly appointed finance minister impressed as vaccines minister when Britain had one of the world’s fastest rollouts of COVID shots.
Zahawi’s personal story as a former refugee from Iraq who came to Britain as a child sets him apart from other contenders.
He co-founded polling company YouGov before entering parliament in 2010. His last job was as education secretary.
Zahawi says the burden of tax is too high, and he will lower taxes for individuals, families and businesses. He also supported leaving the EU.
PRITI PATEL
Priti Patel, has been interior minister since Johnson became prime minister in 2019, and she stayed in government as scandal brought Johnson down, citing the importance of her job to national security.
She was international development minister under May, but was fired following a scandal over unauthorised meetings with the Israeli government that breached the ministerial code.
She is known for hardline stance on immigration and is a supporter of Brexit.
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