Britain’s possible replacements are hesitant to make their candidacy official as pressure mounts to call new elections
The former economy minister, Rishi Sunak, is the favorite to become Britain’s new prime minister and the one with the most support in the parliamentary group, according to bookmakers. But the election process, which began Thursday night with the 1922 Committee’s announcement of the method, has been shrouded in darkness and none of the candidates have confirmed their candidacy.
Friday is a day of little activity in Parliament as many MEPs have already left for their constituencies or their family homes. There is little official activity and delegates from London or from the suburbs of the capital appear in the media. The parliament building opens its doors to tourists on Saturday and Sunday.
Recent moves by the British Conservative Party have resulted in the German weekly ‘Der Spiegel’ publishing on the cover a drawing of Big Ben in the shape of a banana, illustrating the conversion of the United Kingdom into a banana monarchy. Two months ago, a thoughtful article in the same magazine argued why the land of the British is essential to the rest of Europeans.
But the permanent revolution of the conservatives is really shocking. After spending two months in a multi-debate electoral process to choose Boris Johnson’s replacement, in the context of a war in Europe and a worrying price crisis, the chosen one, Liz Truss, is resigning after 45 days and is now looking for the next behind closed doors and with the hope that the decision will come Monday.
What is known is the list of deputies who, in their accounts on social networks or in media conversations, have expressed their support for one of the candidates who could put themselves forward. 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 may be the only ones who can have the necessary 100 carriers to enter a second phase.
In the absence of news, the headlines are comical. The BBC reported at the time that Defense Secretary Ben Wallace does not want to be a leader now – he had already said so on Thursday – and that he “is leaning towards Johnson for now”. They shared school in Eton and friendship in parliament. Johnson pardoned him for voting to remain in the European Union and placed him in his cabinet. Wallace leans towards his friend “right now” lest Sunak win or his friend doesn’t show up.
Sunak will get more votes from delegates, as happened last July, but Johnson will be the favorite if he exceeds 100, which would lead to a digital vote by party members. The bookmakers, who tend to get their political predictions right, keep Sunak at 1/1 and Johnson at 6/4 and higher than yesterday.
To obscure the proceedings, the European research group ERG, which has significant influence in parliament and in government, has convened its 60 members to meet on Monday to decide who to vote for. “The pound is falling as Johnson prepares for new leadership,” says an insider headline in the former prime minister’s newspaper Telegraph. The ‘Brexiter’ and ‘Johnsonian’ ERG can, with exceptions, decide this dispute.
Labor led by Keir Starmer is looking for various rhetorical ways to call for elections, but the majority of MPs sit in the ‘Tory’ seats. The editors of the ‘Financial Times’ nevertheless share the argument. “Conservatives must not continue without a new voter mandate,” he said in his editorial on Friday.
Source: La Verdad
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