• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • London
  • British Books
  • Travel
  • Events
  • British Royals
  • British TV
  • Contact

Brit News

News About Britain

You are here: Home / composite / Who are the contenders for the next leader of the Tory Party?

Who are the contenders for the next leader of the Tory Party?

October 24, 2022 by editor Leave a Comment

A new prime minister is expected to have been selected by the end of the week following Liz Truss’s resignation after less than two months in the job.

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt have emerged as the main contenders in the Tory leadership contest.

However, candidates need a minimum of 100 colleagues to nominate them by Monday to make it onto the ballot paper for the parliamentary stage of the election process.

This means that there can only be a maximum of three candidates put to MPs. If only one candidate receives more than 100 nominations, then they will automatically win.

The first MPs vote will be held between 3.30pm to 5.30pm on Monday.

Here are the runners and riders:

– Rishi Sunak

Conservative leadership bid
Rishi Sunk leaves his campaign office in London (Belinda Jiao/PA)

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak heads into the race this week confident that he has the backing of enough MPs to make it onto the ballot paper.

He was defeated just seven weeks ago in the last Tory leadership race as the party membership picked rival Liz Truss, garnering 60,399 votes to her 81,326.

In that contest, he positioned himself as the candidate prepared to tell hard truths about the state of the public finances rather than “comforting fairy tales”.

He remained resolute in the view that his rival’s promises of unfunded tax cuts at a time of worsening inflation were irresponsible, dangerous and un-Conservative, predicting that they would lead to surging mortgage rates.

After Ms Truss took office, her disastrous mini-budget triggered turbulence in the financial markets and forced the Bank of England to intervene, proving Mr Sunak right.

He kept a low profile as the chaos continued, staying away from the annual Tory conference, which was overshadowed by a U-turn on a flagship policy to scrap the 45p rate of income tax.

Accusations in the last leadership race that he represented “Treasury orthodoxy” and a “gloomster” mentality could speak in his favour this time, as many will be reassured by his undoubted experience in handling the economy and his realist approach.

The ex-chancellor gathered a string of endorsements from MPs before declaring he would run, with backers highlighting his “calm competence” and portraying him as a “serious person for serious times”.

– Penny Mordaunt

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt (Belinda Jiao/PA)

Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt will need to receive a tidal wave of support to reach the requisite 100 nominations on Monday.

She finished third in the last leadership election, failing to receive enough backing from MPs to qualify for the membership vote.

She opted to back Ms Truss, and was rewarded with a role in the new Cabinet, taking up the reins as Commons Leader.

Her initial bid for the top job triggered some excitement, as colleagues rallied behind a fresh face to lead the Conservatives.

But her dearth of ministerial experience at that stage became a weakness that her rivals sought to exploit, even if she appeared to remain a popular choice among the party membership.

She will now be able to cite her tenure as Commons Leader – albeit short-lived – as she sets her sights on Downing Street once more.

Ms Mordaunt will inevitably be tied to the Truss premiership to some extent, as she served in the Cabinet during the PM’s tumultuous period, which saw market chaos at one stage threaten to trigger a financial crisis in the UK.

However, she has hardly been conspicuous in her loyalty, making it clear she believed benefits should rise in line with inflation at the Tory conference earlier this month, despite Ms Truss repeatedly refusing to guarantee the boost.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Print
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • WhatsApp
  • Email

Related

Filed Under: composite, Conservativfes, Contenders, Downing Street, Liz Truss, News, PA, Penny Mordaunt, Politics, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, story, Tory, Tory leadership, UK, United Kingdom

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

You’ve been successfully subscribed to our newsletter!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get daily notifications of all new posts on Brit.news. No Spam!

You’ve been successfully subscribed to our newsletter!

Recent Articles

What are the Government’s proposals for minimum service levels during strikes?

12,000 cancer patients waiting more than three months for treatment

Mark Cavendish robbery trial hears accused ‘was stabbed in leg months earlier’

Commentator jokes dog who went viral has released a Prince Harry-style book

Rare Bible sells for £20,000 at Belfast auction house

Data sharing progress between EU and UK hailed as ‘significant building block’

Harry’s bombshell memoir becomes fastest selling non-fiction book

Conservative MPs express frustration at time limit introduced on stamp duty cut

Experts warn over plans to age-check child asylum seekers with X-rays

Man threatened to assassinate Nicola Sturgeon in Facebook post, court told

British Links

  • BritMemes
  • YourBritain.me
  • Britishhistory.photos

Recent Comments

    Copyright © 2023 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in