The possible replacements of the British prime minister are reluctant to make their candidacies official while the pressure grows to call new elections
The former Minister of the Economy, Rishi Sunak, is the favorite to become the new British Prime Minister, according to the bookmakers, and the one with the highest number of supports in the parliamentary group. But the electoral process, which began Thursday night with the 1922 Committee’s announcement of the method, has been plunged into darkness, with none of the candidates confirming his candidacy.
Friday is a day of little activity in Parliament, because many deputies have already left for their constituencies or their family homes. There is little official activity and deputies from London or from the outskirts of the capital appear in the media. Saturday and Sunday, the parliamentary building opens its doors to tourists.
Recent steps by the British Conservative Party have led the German weekly ‘Der Spiegel’ to publish on its cover a drawing of Big Ben in the shape of a banana, to illustrate the conversion of the United Kingdom into a banana monarchy. Two months ago, a thoughtful article in the same magazine argued why the country of the British is essential for the rest of the Europeans.
But the permanent revolution of the conservatives is really shocking. After spending two months in an electoral process with multiple debates to choose Boris Johnson’s replacement, in the context of a war in Europe and a worrying price crisis, the chosen one, Liz Truss, resigns after 45 days and now look for the next one behind closed doors and with the hope that the decision will be made by Monday.
What is known is the list of deputies who in their accounts on social networks or in conversations with the media have expressed their support for any of the candidates who could stand. At 2:40 p.m. Spanish time, 56 associated their names with Sunak, 33 with Johnson and 17 with Penny Mordaunt. They are mentioned in the list because they are perhaps the only ones capable of having the necessary 100 supports to enter a second phase.
darkness
In the absence of news, the headlines are comical. The BBC reported at that time that Defense Minister Ben Wallace does not want to be leader now – he had already said so on Thursday – and that, “for the moment, he leans towards Johnson.” They shared school at Eton and friendship in Parliament. Johnson pardoned him for voting in favor of remaining in the European Union and put him in his Cabinet. Wallace leans toward his friend “right now,” lest Sunak win or his friend not show up.
Sunak will have more votes from deputies, as happened last July, but Johnson is the favorite if he exceeds 100, which would trigger a digital vote by party members. The bookmakers, who tend to get their political predictions right very often, keep Sunak at 1/1 odds and Johnson at 6/4 and up from yesterday.
To add darkness to the procedure, the European Research Group, ERG, which has great influence in Parliament and in the Government, has summoned its sixty members to meet on Monday to decide who they should vote for. “Pound falls as Johnson prepares new leadership,” says a headline written by an insider in the ‘Telegraph’, the former prime minister’s newspaper. The ‘Brexiter’ and ‘Johnsonian’ ERG, with exceptions, can decide this dispute.
Labor led by Keir Starmer seek various rhetorical ways to demand elections, but the majority of MPs sit in the ‘Tory’ seats. The editors of the ‘Financial Times’ nevertheless share the argument. “The Conservatives should not continue without a new mandate from the voters,” he says in his editorial this Friday.
#Conservatives #launch #invisible #campaign #replace #Liz #Truss