Lawmakers in Britain’s Conservative Party have been fighting like rats in a sack over the party leadership for some time, but now that Prime Minister Theresa May has formally announced that she will step down as party leader on June 7, everyone can stop pretending and just get on with it. Here are some of the key faces in the running. Boris Johnson: The former foreign secretary is currently the favorite. Having abandoned his 2016 leadership bid thanks to the last minute betrayal by Michael Gove, he is back to give it another shot. “Of course I’m going to go for it,” he said last week. Johnson, who was the face of the Vote Leave campaign, is the favorite of the Tory grassroots.
Some members of Parliament (MPs) believe Johnson’s populist touch is what is needed to reconnect with voters and see off the challenge from both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage. But there are many other MPs who want to block him from becoming one of the final two that party members can choose from - in part due to his potential support for a no-deal Brexit. In recent days Johnson, who has been eerily quiet, has reached out to the One Nation group of more liberal Tories led by Amber Rudd.
Dominic Raab: The former Brexit secretary is probably the second favorite behind Johnson. He quit the government over May’s exit plan and has positioned himself as a more hardline no-dealer. And as is often noted, the favorite does not usually end up winning Tory leadership races. As part of his undeclared leadership bid, Raab posed with his wife in their kitchen for an interview with The Sunday Times.
Jeremy Hunt: The foreign secretary has undergone quite the conversion on Brexit since the referendum. Shortly after the result, Hunt suggested a second referendum should be held. But fast forward two years and he was comparing the EU to the USSR - a comparison that was a bit much even for some hardcore eurosceptic Tory MPs. “People who were for Remain trying to appeal to Brexiteers time and again go too far,” leading Brexiteer Steve Baker said at the time.
Hunt says the next leader should be someone who “believes in Brexit.” Which conveniently for him is not the same as someone who voted for it at the time.
Sajid Javid: The home secretary was once seen as the frontrunner to become party leader but may now be playing catchup. A eurosceptic, the former banker surprised many in the party when he backed Remain in 2016. Rumors that May was about to be forced out this week went into overdrive when it was revealed Javid had asked to see her privately.
His decision to strip Isis bride Shamima Begum of her British citizenship was criticized in some quarters as one made to further his leadership ambitions.
Michael Gove: The environment secretary has not ruled out running. “I’ll make my views clear about what should happen in that contest clear later,” he told the BBC when asked earlier this week. The Brexiteer, who helped run the official Leave campaign
0 Comments