Friday, October 21, 2022

CALL AN ELECTION

Rishi Sunak passes the 100 endorsement threshold to succeed Liz Truss as head of the UK government

The former British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has reached this Friday night the required 100 endorsements among Tory MPs in the House of Representatives to run as a candidate to succeed Liz Truss as head of the Conservative Party and the Government of the United Kingdom.



Archive - Rishi Sunak, British Conservative Party leadership contender. - Jacob King/PA Wire/dpa© Provided by News 360

He was also a candidate in the last primaries of the Conservatives has reached that figure after the MP for the district of Bournemouth East, Tobias Ellood, announced his decision in a message on Twitter.

"The free market experiment is over: it has been a low point in our party's great history. The restart begins. Time for a centrist, stable, fiscally responsible government that provides credible national and international leadership. Honored to be the 100th Tory MP to support Rishi Sunak," Ellod announced in his statement.

In this way, Sunak was the first of the potential candidates to obtain the minimum of one hundred endorsements imposed by the 1922 Conservative Party Committee in order to streamline the primary process, as the maximum number of candidates is reduced to just three.

Specifically, the 'Tories' have set themselves the objective of resolving the succession of the now former British Prime Minister in one week, which is why they have increased from 20 to 100 the endorsements required to opt for the post of Chief Executive of the United Kingdom.

However, the chairman of the 1992 Committee, Graham Brady, has confirmed Friday, October 28 as the date to settle the succession of the leader of the Conservative Party. It will thus be an agile change, far from the two months needed by the 'Tories' to complete the succession of Boris Johnson.

"We should have a new leader in charge before the fiscal statement that will take place on October 31," Brady explained Thursday to the media, shortly after Truss appeared to confirm that he could not complete the mandate he received a month and a half ago from his own colleagues

Berry, who suggested that "if there is only one candidate, there is only one candidate", thus putting on the table the possibility of a possible consensus name, later explained that anyone who wants to run as a candidate must have the support of at least a hundred Conservative deputies.

In addition, he pointed out that on Monday at 14.00 hours (one hour more in peninsular Spain) the period for submitting nominations will close. If at that time there were more than one candidacy, a process would begin that would culminate on Friday but, in the event that there was only one candidate, he would be appointed new prime minister on Monday.

THE OTHER CANDIDATES IN THE RACE TO SUCCESS TRUSS

 Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, have already received the support of dozens of Conservative MPs, although they are still far from the barrier of one hundred required by the 1922 Committee.

So far, Johnson - who has not yet made his candidacy official - has received the support of up to 52 MPs who have expressed their support in messages on social networks, as reported by the newspaper 'The Telegraph'.

"Boris should not have left, I think he was an absolutely outstanding prime minister," said Conservative MP Peter Bone, ensuring that "there is a groundswell" of support for Boris Johnson among Conservative voters and party members to return to Downing Street.

The former parliamentary private secretary of the Conservatives and ally of Johnson, James Duddridge, has also shown his support for the former British prime minister, assuring that he "is ready" to lead the party again, according to the newspaper.

All in all, Mordaunt would have collected so far 22 of the one hundred supports needed to formalize her candidacy to obtain the post of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

This Friday afternoon, the British MP was the first party official to formally declare her intention to succeed Liz Truss at the head of Downing Street.

"I have been encouraged by the support of colleagues who want a new start, a united party and leadership in the national interest," Mordaunt said on her Twitter account.

For all these reasons, Mordaunt is running "to lead the Conservative Party and become prime minister" with the intention of "uniting the country, delivering on promises and winning the next general election."

As far as voter support is concerned, a YouGov poll placed Mordaunt as the fourth most supported candidate to succeed Truss, behind former Prime Minister Boris Johnson (32 percent support); former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak (23 percent) and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (10 percent), who on Friday declined to run for the head of government.

No comments: