The head of British diplomacy Liz Truss is trying to catch up in an increasingly bitter Downing Street race on Friday, before a first televised debate in the evening between contenders to replace Boris Johnson.
They are still five in the race for power launched after the announcement last Thursday of the resignation of Boris Johnson, swept away by an avalanche of departures triggered by an overflow of scandals. At the end of the second round of voting on Thursday, Conservative MPs put former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak in the lead (101 votes), ahead of Secretary of State for International Trade Penny Mordaunt (83 votes), the preferred candidate. members according to the polls, and Foreign Minister Liz Truss (64 votes). The head of diplomacy now seeks to rally around her the right of the conservative party. She received the support of government legal adviser Suella Braverman on Thursday evening, who was eliminated with 27 votes.
Ex-Brexit negotiator David Frost has called on ex-Equality Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who defines herself as an “anti-woke” candidate, to step down from the race in support of Liz Truss. An appeal rejected by Kemi Badenoch’s camp, who maintains that she is “here to win”, while one of Rishi Sunak’s supporters, MP Simon Hoare, slammed David Frost, a former “unelected minister who failed “. In a very open competition, Ms. Truss seems to be struggling behind Penny Mordaunt, almost unknown a week ago, but who is given the winner against any of her rivals in the final. Already attacked by David Frost, who expressed “serious reservations” about his ability to lead the country, Penny Mordaunt replied. “People want to stop me getting to the final because they don’t want to come up against me,” she said on Sky News.
Penny Mordaunt, [a été] attacked in recent days by her opponents for remarks deemed too “woke” concerning transgender people
Once the final head-to-head cast is determined by party MPs – who are due to continue the round of playoff votes next week – the choice will fall to Conservative party members. The result of the ballot, which will be held by post during the summer, is expected on 5 September. The five candidates are due to meet on the Channel 4 set on Friday for a debate from 6.30 p.m. GMT. Two more are scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday. “This is not a knife fight in a phone box, this is about governing the UK, changing the way our country is governed and in two years fighting against Labour” in the general election, said said candidate Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, on Sky News on Friday morning.
Before this first confrontation, the five candidates met on Friday afternoon during an online question and answer session organized by the influential site ConservativeHome. They were interrogated in particular on the crisis in the cost of living and the war in Ukraine. “Not only do we need to restore confidence, rebuild our economy and bring the country together, but we also need to do something that has never been done in British political history, and that is win a fifth election,” said Rishi Sunak. “Let us remember that as we choose a new leader, the nation is watching us choose a new prime minister. We should focus on the issues that matter to them (the British), ”said Penny Mordaunt, attacked in recent days by her opponents for remarks deemed too “woke” concerning transgender people.
If Boris Johnson has been careful not to publicly express any support “not to harm anyone’s chances”, according to the Times, he urges the eliminated candidates to support “anyone except Rishi” Sunak. The bodyguard of the future ex-Prime Minister is convinced that the 42-year-old former Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose departure from the government helped precipitate the fall of Boris Johnson, had been biding his time for months. What the supporters of Rishi Sunak defend themselves from.