The last two days of voting for the faction offer an uncertain panorama about the second position
Rishi Sunak is the clear favorite to form the candidate pair that will compete to replace Boris Johnson, after winning another round of votes from the parliamentary faction. With 115 supports, he increases by 14 that he achieved on Friday. Liz Truss rises from 64 to 71, and Kemi Badenoch, from 49 to 58. Meanwhile, Penny Mordaunt loses one, from 83 to 82.
Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier with no experience in government positions and who has run as the only candidate who has not participated in Boris Johnson’s governments, was the last to be eliminated yesterday. He was also the only one who voted to remain in the European Union and did not regret it, although he accepted the outcome. Truss voted to stay and immediately converted to the Brexit case.
A new vote will be held next Tuesday to eliminate the least voted of the four survivors and by Wednesday, if there are no unforeseen events, the original list of 11 candidates will have been reduced to two. From that moment on, the campaign for the party members to choose one begins. The process will culminate on September 5 with the announcement of the new leader.
Sunak and Truss have opted out of further televised debates with the other candidates. They agreed after a tense exchange on Sunday night on ITV television. The 1922 Committee called on the applicants to convince them not to persist in confrontation. The “blue against blue” fights show cracks in the party and discredit everyone.
While the disputes in the debates have resembled verbal jousts between MPs from the House of Commons, harsh but with rules of politeness and a ban on some insults, there were also comedic moments. Mordaunt claimed the others criticized her “because they know I’m the only one who can beat Labour, according to the polls.” The others laughed, because it is false.
The vote to choose Johnson’s successor was held while the House of Commons debated and voted on a vote of no confidence in the government. The acting prime minister could not understand the confluence of events. “I have no idea why the opposition leader has insisted on filing a motion today,” he said.
Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle interrupted: “The motion of censure has been tabled by your government.” It’s true. Labor Keir Starmer last week submitted a motion of censure to the government and the prime minister. The first obliges the Executive to give priority to the debate. The motion of censure to a minister or prime minister does not entail that obligation.
Johnson denied him parliamentary time to debate it. And then he introduced the motion debated yesterday. So he laughed at Starmer’s clumsy strategy, convinced his faction would not support the motion. Turning politics into spectacle is one of the hallmarks of Johnson’s tenure and so it is at the start of his interim term.
Source: La Verdad
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