The attacks begin to reach the second position in the elections of the parliamentary group
Rishi Sunak, former finance minister in Boris Johnson’s government, was confirmed this week as the most preferred candidate by the largest number of Conservative MPs to succeed him. In the second ballot of the electoral process held this Thursday, they gave him 101 votes, 13 more than the first. The event eliminated state attorney general Suella Braverman from the race.
Sunak advances, but surprise candidate Penny Mordaunt pushes harder. On Wednesday, she was revealed as the surprise candidate, with 67 votes and the second position. A few hours later, he added 83, less than Sunak but a higher jump, 17 votes, than the rival who now seems better placed.
The third in the fray, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss launched her campaign on Thursday morning, presenting herself as a fit person to become head of government. “I can lead, I can make difficult decisions,” he said. The daughter of radical Labor parents voted to remain in the European Union in 2016, but immediately accepted the result.
She has been a minister longer than any other candidate. It has sat in the cabinets of David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. He has held positions of technical requirements, such as head of the Treasury Secretariat. She has clearly promoted herself as a future leader and made mistakes in the tone or triumphalism of some of the speeches, portraying her as a somewhat strange person.
Truss got 50 votes on Wednesday and 64 on Thursday. In the race to take second in the last two selections, she has progressed more slowly than Mordaunt, but will likely benefit from the 27 Suella Braverman she received in the second round. The group of supporters on the right, understood as tax cuts and ‘hard Brexit’, may favor Truss.
The election process will resume on Monday and voting will take place every day, with the aim of eliminating at least one vote in each count. With five survivors this week, it makes sense that next Wednesday the two candidates who will be presented to members of the Conservative Party to elect the new leader and prime minister will be announced.
Former military officer Tom Tugendhat, a politically moderate congressman who is highly critical of Johnson, won 37 votes on Wednesday and 32 votes on Thursday. It is not clear where the endorsements will have to come from in order not to be eliminated on Monday. Another deputy who was more popular than thought, Kemi Badenoch, went from 40 to 49, the largest percentage increase in support from that obtained in the first vote.
David Frost, a prominent Brexit negotiator at the European Commission, has launched a vicious attack on Mordaunt. It was his second and he had to ask Johnson to place someone else because, according to what the current gentleman says, he was his assistant in name only. “He didn’t understand the details, he didn’t send the necessary strong messages to Brussels, he disappeared and no one knew where he was…”
Frost also said he listens very carefully to the candidates’ speeches to decide who to vote for. He has already publicly criticized Sunak’s policies, he is now humiliating Mordaunt, and he is not a man with passions for minorities. He looks and sounds like a Truss election agent.
The ‘Tory’ deputies are now going away for the weekend, and there will be secret deals and gruesome revelations in the press.
Source: La Verdad
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