London, July 14 (BNA): Conservative Party MPs in Britain ousted today, Thursday, one of the six remaining contenders from the competition. Replacing Prime Minister Boris Johnsonwhere contestant Rishi Sunak worked to take the momentum away from surprise contender Benny Mordaunt.
The Associated Press reported that Attorney General Suila Braverman received the fewest votes out of her 27 teammates, and was eliminated from the race, leaving five contenders.
Sunak, who resigned as British Chancellor of the Exchequer last week, received the most votes, 101, while junior trade minister Mordaunt came in second with a strength of 83. Bookmaker Ladbrokes said Mordaunt is now the frontrunner to win the leadership election, Followed by Sunak and Secretary of State Lise. Truss, who received 64 votes.
Former equality minister Kimi Badenouch, the rising star of the party’s libertarian right, and MP Tom Tugendhat are still in the race – although Tugendat only gets 32 votes and is under pressure to withdraw.
But Tugendhat said he would fight and participate in televised candidates debates on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.
Further rounds of voting will be held by 358 Conservative lawmakers from Monday until only two candidates remain.
The last two contenders will face each other Runoff by about 180,000 Conservative Party members across the country. The winner is due to be announced on September 5 and will automatically become prime minister, without the need for a national election.
Truss is trying to shore up support from lawmakers on the right of the party, who are distrustful of Sunak’s high spending to support individuals and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, and the tax increases it brought after COVID-19 hit the British economy.
In her campaign launch speech, Truss cited her international experience in garnering support for Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion and striking deals with other countries in her previous role as trade minister. It said it would put Britain’s economy on an “upward trajectory” by 2024, the deadline for the next national election.
Sunak argues that the immediate tax cuts promised by his opponents are reckless amid the economic shocks from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. He said his “number one economic priority is tackling inflation” – which is expected to reach 11% later this year – before tax cuts.
Sunak has also faced allegations that he is far from the struggles of ordinary people due to his wealth. A former investment banker, his wife is the daughter of the billionaire founder of Indian technology company Infosys.
I don’t judge people by their bank accounts. “I judge them by their characters,” Sunak told the BBC. “And I think people can judge me by my actions over the past two years.”
The competition began when Johnson resigned as Conservative Party leader last week after cabinet ministers began resigning en masse due to months of moral scandals. He will remain in his position as acting prime minister until a replacement is chosen as the party chief.
Truss was seen as the front-runner, but received fewer votes on Wednesday and Thursday than Mordaunt, who has high scores in opinion polls of party members.
Unlike Sunak and Truss, Mordaunt did not hold a senior position in Johnson’s cabinet, although she was a junior minister. As a friendly policy from a military family, it is widely seen as a breath of fresh air.
Despite pleas from party officials to keep the campaign optimistic, supporters of the respective contenders are busy attacking the expertise and competence of the competition.
David Frost, a former Brexit negotiator, EU hawk and Truss ally, said Mordaunt could not be trusted to maintain the Brexit terms favored by his Conservative wing. He claimed that when Mordaunt was his deputy in the Brexit negotiations, she “wasn’t always sending harsh messages to the EU when it was necessary”.
Lawmaker David Davis, a Mordaunt supporter, criticized the negative campaign.
“It’s exactly the movement of the clock,” he said. “You get to the point where someone steps up and looks forward to being the real contender, and then… the next fire begins.”
AOQ