The British Prime Minister , the conservative Liz Truss , announced her resignation on Thursday just six weeks after coming to power, cornered by members of the Conservative Party , her political group, the day after a catastrophic day for her government.
This decision will lead the Conservative Party to organize a new internal vote to appoint a new leader, who will become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom .
Despite calls from the opposition, the UK is not expected to call a general election before the next two years.
Here’s what we know about the process and candidates to succeed Truss at 10 Downing Street.
How will the next leader of the Conservative Party be chosen?
The new British prime minister will be appointed between now and October 28 by the Conservative Party that is in power, announced this Thursday a senior official of the majority formation Graham Brady, after the resignation of Liz Truss.
“It will be possible to hold a vote and conclude an election between now and October 28,” Brady told reporters. The process to choose Truss had taken nearly two months.
Three British Conservative deputies, at most, may stand as official candidates to succeed Liz Truss to serve as Prime Minister, according to the rules presented this Thursday by the formation.
Later, the deputies, and perhaps also the affiliates, will choose between one of them.
The candidates will have to have at least 100 supports (of the 357 Conservative deputies), Graham Brady, a party official, told the press.
These supports must be presented between now and Monday, at 2:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m., Mexico City time), for a selection next Friday.
Who are the possible candidates?
Here are the possible candidates for succession:
Rishi Sunak
The former finance minister was defeated by Truss in the final phase of the election process for a new Conservative leader in early September, which was decided by the party’s rank and file, but was the MPs’ preferred candidate.
The 42-year-old former banker billionaire is a reassuring figure who defends fiscal orthodoxy.
During his campaign in August, he repeatedly warned that unfunded tax cuts would worsen inflation, which is at its highest level in decades, and undermine market confidence.
The facts have proven him right. However, he has an important argument against him: many MPs loyal to Boris Johnson see him as the traitor whose resignation in July precipitated the downfall of the charismatic and controversial prime minister.
Jeremy Hunt
The new finance minister emerged as the one holding the reins of power in the face of Truss’s weakening, after being forced to give up her economic plan and appoint him as head of the Treasury portfolio.
It was he who announced on Monday the spectacular removal of almost all of Truss’s fiscal measures, which had caused a panic in the markets.
This uncharismatic but very experienced former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Health, 55, recently assured the BBC that after two failed attempts to become party leader and head of government, in 2019 and last July, he does not want to participate in new to the race.
Penny Mordaunt
The minister in charge of relations with Parliament, who also competed in July with Truss to succeed Boris Johnson, was the favorite of the conservative bases in said election, but was discarded at the last moment by the deputies.
Her rise in the race alarmed some critics, who said she was untested and poorly qualified for the post of prime minister, according to The New York Times .
This charismatic former Defense Minister, 49, was on display on Monday when she appeared in Parliament to replace Truss to respond to the opposition, defending with aplomb the shift in the government’s economic policy.
The hypothesis of a Mordaunt-Sunak candidacy recently emerged and the conservative newspaper The Times mentioned unconfirmed talks in this regard on Tuesday.
Boris Johnson
It’s a scenario that has been circulating in the conservative press for months: Like a phoenix, the controversial Johnson would make his return, imposing himself as an obvious choice.
His landslide 2019 election victory gave the Conservatives a majority they had not seen since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
But the Brexit hero has big hurdles to overcome: his forced resignation in July following a multiplication of scandals, including Downing Street parties against anticovid rules, remains fresh and attributes some responsibility to him in the current Conservative debacle .
In addition, it remains to be seen if Johnson, now embarking at 58 on a lucrative career as a speaker around the world, would be willing to assume the leadership of the formation again two years before a legislative in which the polls promise a landslide victory. of the Labor opposition.
ben wallace
Among the last favorites, the Minister of Defense, who had decided not to jump into the race to dedicate himself to the country’s security, but in recent days his name has resonated as a possible figure of unity for the party.
However, Ben Wallace, 52, seemed to rule out this scenario, assuring The Times on Tuesday that he wanted to remain at the helm of the defense portfolio. “I don’t love him enough,” he told The Telegraph in September.
Suella Braverman
She was also a candidate for Downing Street against Truss. A 42-year-old ultra-conservative, she had been appointed Minister of the Interior by Truss, in charge in particular of the issue of irregular immigration.
She resigned Wednesday night, explaining that she had made the mistake of using her personal email to send official documents.
With information from AFP
