In the final stages of the multi-month election process for office Secretary of State Liz Truss and former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak competed with each other. The party’s 160,000 members elected the new leader from among themselves by mail or electronically, who – once the Conservative Party is in government – will also be the UK’s next prime minister.
Voting is over on Friday, and the result will be announced on Monday, 1:30 PM BST – 2:30 CET – Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Commission, a highly influential political group. A body in the House of Commons, it is also responsible for organizing the Conservative Party leadership elections.
The leader’s election was necessary because former Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation from the leadership of the Conservative Party on July 7, after a series of domestic political scandals in recent months. This also means the end of his position as Prime Minister, but Johnson announced at the same time as he announced his resignation that he will perform his duties until the election of his successor. Eight people ran for this position. First, the Conservative faction in the House of Commons held a series of votes for a week, and after each round the candidates with the fewest votes were disqualified. After the last round, Truss and Snack remained in the race.
In the early stages of the electoral process, the 42-year-old Sun was considered the front-runner, but the same scandals that undermined Johnson’s popularity have also eroded his support. For example, London police – like Johnson – fined him in the spring for violating restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus epidemic. In addition, at the beginning of the summer, press reports emerged that Sunak’s wife, an Indian national, and a wealthy equity investor, took a legal opportunity to avoid paying income tax in Great Britain on the returns on her foreign investments. In the last years.
Rishi Sun received the most votes in each round of the Conservative Party’s voting series in the House of Commons. However, surveys by British survey companies have shown that Among the Conservative Party members, Liz Truss is far more popular than her rival, Therefore, election experts, the press and bookmakers alike expect the incumbent Secretary of State to win. If these predictions come true, Liz Truss will be the UK’s third female prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
If Rishi Sunak wins, he will be the first British prime minister of Asian descent: the former chancellor was born to Indian parents who settled in Great Britain from East Africa in 1980, in Southampton, southern England.
The leadership election winner and outgoing prime minister, Boris Johnson, is scheduled to visit the second on Tuesday. To Queen Elizabeth, who formally acknowledged Johnson’s departure and entrusted the elected successor as Prime Minister. Unlike in past decades, this time the celebration will not take place at Buckingham Palace in London, but at the summer residence of the monarch in Scotland, Balmoral Castle, more than 800 kilometers north of London, where the Queen traditionally resides from the end of July to October. The 96-year-old Queen, who has presided over the United Kingdom for 70 years, has had mobility issues for months, which is why the decision was made to welcome Johnson and his chosen successor to Balmoral.
Winner of the second Conservative leadership election. He will be Queen Elizabeth’s fifteenth prime minister.
Cover Photo: Getty Images
