London (agencies)
The race to succeed Boris Johnson in the ranks of the British Conservative Party has begun, a day after the resignation of the Prime Minister after an unprecedented series of resignations in the ranks of his government due to repeated scandals.
Without waiting for a new Conservative leader to be elected next week, Conservative MP Tom Tugenhatt, chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed his candidacy yesterday evening, becoming the first officials to announce their intention to run in the race since Johnson’s departure was announced.
Among the main potential candidates to succeed him is Defense Minister Ben Wallace Telle, according to a YouGov poll, Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Penny Mordaunt, who has been the face of the campaign for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
Announcing his resignation in a brief speech, Johnson, 58, made clear he would remain in power until a successor was appointed.
He added, “I appointed a new government that will work, like me, until the selection of a new leader,” without mentioning at all about the crisis caused by the resignation of about sixty members of his government team since Tuesday after a new scandal.
But the British Labor Party, the largest opposition political party in the United Kingdom, threatened yesterday to propose a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson to remove him from power immediately, after he was forced to step down.
With the start of the race to succeed him, Johnson faced demands to immediately relinquish power and transfer power to an acting head of government to lead the world’s fifth largest economic power.
Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner said yesterday that her party intends to submit a vote of confidence in Johnson to Parliament, if the Conservatives do not remove him immediately.
“We can’t afford to keep him for two more months,” Rainer said in a statement to BBC radio.
And she added: “If they don’t put our trust in him, we will because it has become very clear that he does not have the confidence of the House of Commons, nor of the British people.”
But Labor’s vote of confidence in Johnson requires the endorsement of the move by Conservative lawmakers. However, this strategy is fraught with risks, as it may call for an early general election that could result in Conservative MPs losing their seats if Johnson loses.
A spokesman for Johnson completely ruled out the possibility of Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab taking over as acting prime minister. The spokesman said: “The prime minister acts in accordance with the constitution, and remains prime minister until the selection of a new leader for the party, in the meantime the government’s work continues.”
A timetable for the selection process for Johnson’s successor is expected to be announced on Monday, with the winner taking over as prime minister while the party holds its annual conference in early October.
#Britain #start #race #succeed #Johnson #resignation