London, July 9 (BNA) One of its members said today, Saturday, that the Conservative Party committee overseeing the competition to choose an alternative to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will consider reducing it to two names by July 20.
The so-called 1922 Committee will determine the exact rules and schedule for the contest next week after his party forced Johnson to resign. Many lawmakers are pushing for a fast-track process.
Four Conservative MPs have officially confirmed their desire to be the next leader, but about a dozen others are also expected to run for the position, Reuters reported.
Conservative lawmakers will run a series of votes to narrow the field to two finalists, who will then face a mail ballot for broader Conservative Party membership.
“Obviously what we would like to do, and I think even the candidates will admit that, is to eliminate some of those who obviously will not have enough support to get to the last two stages at a relatively early stage,” the 1922 Committee Treasurer Jeffrey Clifton-Brown told Radio Times.
Clifton-Brown said this could be done by increasing the number of signatures from other conservative lawmakers to be nominated, and by increasing the threshold of votes that candidates must get to advance to the next round.
“I think we will be able to formulate a process to actually come up with two names by the time parliament convenes on July 20,” he said. “We should have an answer by the time of the party convention in October and possibly sooner.”
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