The candidates for the Conservative leadership celebrate the last debate knowing that they are less popular than the ousted one both in the party and among the electorate
The polls say that, while Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have monopolized political activity for a month, debating what they would do if they were heads of government, the popularity of their party has fallen among voters, who would now give Labor a victory with a 10% advantage. The rest is news about grotesque price increases, strikes or droughts.
The movement promoted by a billionaire friend of Boris Johnson to be included at the last minute in a new election to be party leader would be about to reach the figure of 10,000 signatures of affiliates, which is required to initiate a reform in the rules. The poll numbers on this aspect of conservative news are devastating to Truss and Sunak.
If the presumed 160,000 members of the Conservative Party (which does not publish the data) had the opportunity to choose between Johnson, Sunak and Truss, 63% of the members would vote for the first and 22% for the favorite to replace him. Polls also say that half of Conservative voters want Johnson to stay, 22% prefer Sunak as prime minister and 18% prefer the most likely choice.
“He is a force of nature to do things,” says the interim Minister of Transport, Gran Shapps, who, in a recent interview with ‘The Times’, stated that the overthrow of Johnson by the parliamentary group was “a mistake.” The latest data on Johnson’s approval by the public is from August 7, and they were overwhelming against him; but an analysis of floating voters by ‘The Times’ has shown that the majority prefers him to the two candidates.
Elizabeth II in Scotland
Before they took the stage Wednesday night for their final debate — the twelfth of the series — Truss and Sunak knew their audience judged them far inferior to Johnson. At least they could count on the fact that it is unlikely that a court will allow the judicial review requested by the magazine ‘Tortoise’ on the possible illegality of their election to be heads of government. It alleges that the procedure hides data about the voters from the population, who could, for example, be foreigners.
Sunak’s effort has been remarkable. He has toured more towns than Truss and has spoken with more party members. He has ignored calls urging him to resign from the campaign, given Truss’s lead in the polls, and asking him to prevent the prolongation of debates in which the division has in some cases been acrimonious. He hasn’t, enduring accusations of disloyalty to Johnson and the party.
To show his good behavior, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer has promised that, if he loses the election and remains a non-ministerial MP, he will vote in favor of Truss’s planned tax cuts; which, as Sunak has argued in the debates, would aggravate the already delicate situation of the country’s economy.
The conclusion of the procedure will be on Monday, with the announcement of the result. Truss or Sunak will have to travel to Balmoral, the summer residence of Queen Elizabeth II, to receive the task of forming a Government. The mobility problems that the monarch has suffered for months prevent her for the first time in her reign from fulfilling that ritual at Buckingham Palace, her official residence.
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