Eight out of eleven Tory MPs qualified to enter the race to be the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister of the U.K., after securing the support of at least 20 of their colleagues by the time voting closed on Tuesday evening. Rishi Sunak, 42, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, led the race, followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. The first round of voting is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, with candidates needing more than 30 MP votes to remain in the race.
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Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Sunak defended Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at an event to launch his own campaign for the Prime Minister’s job. He had quit Mr. Johnson’s cabinet last Tuesday citing differences with Mr. Johnson. The Prime Minister, on Thursday, had announced that he would step down in the near future, following mass resignations from his government, joined by dozens of MPs.
“As candidates to replace him, we owe it to the British people who elected Boris as Prime Minister in 2019, to explain why he is leaving office,” Mr. Sunak said, adding that there was something wrong with a process that sees a sitting Prime Minister replaced, with those replacing him pulling “the curtains and act like it’s nobody’s business but theirs”.
Mr. Sunak said Mr. Johnson was one of “the most remarkable” people he had met and that he would not participate in the rewriting of a history seeking to “demonise Boris”, exaggerating his faults.
Breaking rules
Mr. Sunak, like his former boss, was criticised and fined for breaking pandemic lockdown rules to attend Mr. Johnson’s birthday party in Downing Street in June 2020. The former Chancellor, who is married to Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, was also in the spotlight because his wife had saved on paying tax on her foreign income, as an expat living in Britain.
He was also criticised for holding on to his U.S. ‘green card’ , despite being a public servant in the U.K. If elected to lead the Tories, Mr. Sunak will be Britain’s first non-white and Indian origin Prime Minister.
Others who qualified on Tuesday included trade minister Penny Mordaunt and former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Another former Health Secretary, Sajid Javid , who, like Mr. Sunak, had resigned on Tuesday last week, pulled out from the race on Tuesday. Conservative Party members will ultimately pick from two candidates, with results expected on September 5.
Mr. Sunak got several endorsements on Tuesday: he was introduced by Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab at his event. Transport Secretary Grant Shapp, who was earlier in the running, withdrew from the race and was also present the campaign event. Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock also announced that he is supporting the former Chancellor. .
Home Secretary Preeti Patel, architect of a controversial policy of relocating refugees arriving in Britain to Rwanda, said on Tuesday that she would not be in the race.
Focus on steering U.K. economy
Central to Mr. Sunak’s campaign is getting the U.K. economy on a better footing. He said on Tuesday he planned to steer the economy through the “headwinds” it was facing. Inflation is expected to hit 11% this year, as per the Bank of England, although it is expected to ease in 2023. Mr. Sunak said he would cut taxes once inflation was under control.
“It is a question of when not if,” he said.
Mr. Sunak also committed, on Tuesday, to stick to Mr. Johnson’s pledge to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), that the U.K. would increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 (i.e., above NATO’s annual target of 2%). He said the NATO guideline was a “floor and not a ceiling” and that his approach to defence spending would be “threat based”.
As the Tories sort through their candidates to find a leader, Labour will table a no confidence motion in the British Parliament on Wednesday — a move to prevent Mr. Johnson from continuing in Downing Street until September 5. If the move succeeds, the country could be heading for a general election.
