With Sunak at the top, 8 candidates gain Tory support for premiership

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Jul 2022 12:41

Each of the eight candidates garner 20 Tory endorsements, making it into the race to become the next Conservative party leader.

Rishi Sunak, the UK's richest politician. (AP)

The UK's richest politician and member of the British Conservative party Rishi Suna, gained early momentum in the race to become the next British prime minister after Boris Johnson's resignation.

On Tuesday, Sunak, who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022, launched his political campaign with promises to fix the British economy which is on the verge of stagflation, in addition to cutting taxes as soon as the economy is strong again.

“We need a return to traditional conservative economic values, that means honesty and responsibility. Not fairy tales,” Sunak said.

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, a former foreign secretary and Brexit supporter, and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced their support for Sunak.

The most recent standard for candidacy from the Conservative Party is the requirement of 20 Tory lawmakers' endorsements per candidate if they were to be admitted into the race.

On late Tuesday, eight candidates passed that standard - however, some others did not, such as former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Facing Sunak is Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who received backing from two prominent pro-Brexit candidates who were in Johnson's cabinet. Analysts are saying that Penny Mordaunt, a trade minister, is most likely to be Truss' rival in her face-off against Sunak.

According to a poll by ConservativeHome, Mordaunt is the most popular member of the party; in second place comes former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch with Sunak landing third, despite a number of analysts arguing that Sunak is at the forefront.

More centrist candidates include former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and former soldier Tom Tugendhat, in addition to Suella Braverman, an Attorney-General.

Conservative lawmakers will be holding more votes to rule out weaker candidates until the votes come down to two as of Thursday next week. After that takes place, one candidate has to impress some 150,000 members of the Conservative party to be chosen as the party's leader.