The Conservative Party thins out the circle of possible Johnson successors. Two applicants do not survive the first round of voting. Sunak, who recently resigned from the position of finance minister, received the most votes. Harsh accusations are also being leveled at him.
After the first round of voting on the successor to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, two of the eight candidates were eliminated - newly appointed Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi and ex-Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. This was announced today by the chairman of the committee responsible for the election organization, Graham Brady. Rishi Sunak, who resigned as finance minister last week in protest against Johnson, found the broadest support.
Sunak received the support of 88 Tory MPs. Foreign Trade Secretary Penny Mordaunt came in second, supported by 67 MPs. According to polls, the former defense secretary is the most popular among party members. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss' candidacy was supported by 50 Tory MPs in the first round, Brady said.
But Sunak also had to listen to allegations. Minister of Culture Nadine Dorries accused his team of "dirty tricks" to gain an advantage. Sunak supporters would have lent ex-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt votes to push an easy-to-beat candidate through to the finals. However, Hunt dropped out of the race anyway.
The candidates for Johnson's successor compete against each other in several election rounds until only two candidates face each other in the end. After that, the choice of Johnson's successor is up to the members of the Tory party. On September 5, the new party leader is to be named, who will then also take over the post of Prime Minister from Johnson.
Johnson was forced to resign as party leader last Thursday by an internal party revolt, which also meant the end of his government office. However, he intends to remain in office until a successor is appointed.
