Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party's head, resigned on Thursday, July 7, after a series of scandals. However, he will remain Prime Minister, at least for the next few days. He will be succeeded by the winner of the race, who just joined his camp to search for a new leader.
All Conservative parliamentarians are eligible to stand for election. After all aspirants have declared, there will be several elimination ballots in which the lawmakers will participate, with up to two remaining candidates.
These two candidates will be up for vote by all Conservative Party members in the country, which is approximately 180,000. The winner will become the Party's head and, therefore, will become Prime Minister without having to go through a national election. This entire process could take several days, according to the AP agency.
Next week should be the start of the internal election calendar. On Thursday night, MP Tom Tugendhat (chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee) confirmed his candidacy.
Others are being considered. According to a YouGov survey, Ben Wallace is the most popular candidate. He was followed by Penny Mordaunt (Secretary of State for Foreign Trade), who was part of the campaign for Brexit.
Rishi Sunak (Chancellor of the Exchequer, first Hindu to hold this position) is also expected to be among the candidates. He resigned on Tuesday from the government. Although he was a strong Brexit advocate, the 42-year-old finance minister was criticized for not taking sufficient action to combat soaring prices.
Liz Truss (Minister of Foreign Affairs) is a popular choice among the Tory base. She is known for her outspokenness, and willingness to get involved in the culture wars.
Boris Johnson was a natural choice in 2019. However, the decision this year is less clear and could take longer. Boris Johnson will assume the presidency until then, despite the opposition of many heavyweights from various parties.
