former UK finance minister Rishi Sunak Britain’s race to become the next prime minister maintained its lead on Monday as another candidate was ousted, leaving four candidates in an increasingly bitter competition to replace him. boris johnson,
Sunak received 115 votes in the third ballot for Conservative lawmakers on Monday, compared to 82 for former Defense Minister Penny Mordant and 71 for Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Since Johnson said he would resign earlier this month after his scandal-ridden administration lost the support of many in his ruling Conservative Party, the race to replace him has seen many contenders running at the front. Sanak lit his fire.
He has faced criticism over everything from his record in government to his wife’s assets, who are competing to make it into a run-off between the final two candidates, Foreign Secretary Truss and Mordant, currently a junior. Trade minister, most likely he is. opponents
Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier and Johnson critic who has never had a role in the government, was ousted from the leadership contest on Monday after garnering the fewest votes with 31.
Former Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch came fourth on the ballot with 58 votes.
The governing Conservative Party’s 358 lawmakers will go into the fray for the last two this week, eliminating the candidate who got the least votes. Results for the next ballot are due on Tuesday at 1400 GMT.
A new prime minister would be announced on 5 September, after 200,000 members of the Conservative Party cast postal ballots in the summer.
heated discussion
At a time when the UK economy is beset by rising inflation, high debt and low growth, which has left people with the most strain on their finances in decades.
Truss also said she would change the mandate of the Bank of England.
In a televised debate on Sunday, the candidates attacked each other over their records, and Truss and Sunak attacked their party colleagues on Tuesday, amid concerns among conservatives about the candidates, a planned third. He withdrew from the debate.
“The nature of the Conservative Party is to unite after vigorous debate and then a new leader is elected. I have no doubt that the same will happen on this occasion,” former conservative minister David Jones told Reuters.
Sunak extended his lead over Mordaunt, who lost support and recorded one fewer vote than in the second round.
Bookmaker Ladbrokes said on Monday that Truss, who got seven more votes in round three than he did in round two, was now ahead of Mordent but second favorite behind Sunak.
Truss’s campaign tried to substantiate his argument for lower taxes by citing a report by The Center for Economic and Business Research, a private sector think tank, which showed that higher tax receipts tended to maneuver. There was more space.
But a top Bank of England official, Michael Saunders, insisted on his suggestion that the government should set a “clear direction of travel” for monetary policy, saying that the foundations of Britain’s structure were best left untouched. was.
“The government does not very clearly set the direction of travel for monetary policy,” Saunders, one of nine members of the interest rate-setting monetary policy committee, said at a Resolution Foundation event in London.