British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Liz Truss on Sunday joined the race to succeed Boris Johnson as British prime minister and leader of the ruling Conservative Party, as the fractious contest focused on tax.
Truss, 46, announced her candidacy in the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Sunday evening, saying that she had “a clear vision of where we need to be, and the experience and resolve to get us there.”
The bid by Truss, seen as a frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest, followed that of British Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt as the race expanded to 11 candidates.
Photo: AFP
Mordaunt, 49, an ex-navy reservist who has also held several senior ministerial roles, is not among the favorites to succeed Johnson in recent polls of Tory party members ultimately set to choose their new leader.
However, such contests are notoriously unpredictable, and with more than a dozen lawmakers from multiple factions of the ruling party potentially set to run, political commentators say few contenders can be discounted.
The early favorite is former British chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, who launched his campaign on Friday after helping to start the cabinet revolt that led to Johnson’s forced resignation. He is now drawing early fire from Johnson loyalists and rival candidates.
Sunak and former British secretary of state for health and social care Sajid Javid — who has also declared his candidacy — both resigned late on Tuesday last week, prompting dozens of more junior colleagues to follow suit.
That forced Johnson to then quit as Tory leader 36 hours later.
However, the 58-year-old leader, whose three-year premiership has been defined by scandal, the country’s departure from the EU and COVID-19, said he would stay on until his successor is chosen.
Former British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, who finished runner-up to Johnson in the last contest in 2019, announced late on Saturday that he would stand again.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi — only appointed to the post Tuesday — and British Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps have also launched bids.
They join Attorney General for England and Wales Suella Braverman, the relatively unknown former British minister of state for equalities Kemi Badenoch and backbench Tory lawmaker Tom Tugendhat on the growing candidate list.
Another Conservative lawmaker, Rehman Chishti, announced his leadership bid on Sunday evening to take the number of contenders to 11.
Taxation is already a key dividing line in the race, as Britain faces the toxic combination of high inflation and rampant cost of living increases alongside stagnant growth and relatively high tax rates.
Announcing their bids separately in the Sunday Telegraph, Javid and Hunt vowed to cut corporation tax from 25 to 15 percent.
Javid said he would also slash or change other taxes, including reversing a recent rise in national insurance that is ringfenced to raise health service funding.
Hunt, Shapps and Tugendhat set out their stances for lower taxes in Sunday morning television appearances, while Truss also put cutting taxes at the heart of her pitch.
However, declaring his candidacy in a slick video on social media before the weekend, Sunak struck a different tone, warning Tories not to believe “fairy-tale” pledges.
Meanwhile, Zahawi’s campaign appeared in early danger following Sunday newspaper reports that his personal tax affairs are under investigation by revenue and customs officials who are part of his treasury department.
He has denied wrongdoing.
The likely months-long acrimonious campaign was set to be formalized yesterday when a committee of backbenchers would meet to agree the timetable and rules.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the committee’s treasurer, told LBC radio he was “absolutely confident” the contest could be whittled down to two candidates to put to members within weeks, before parliament’s summer recess starts after Thursday next week.
First, multiple rounds of voting by all 358 Tory lawmakers is likely, with elimination thresholds set for each stage.
The new leader then chosen by members could be in place ahead of the Conservatives’ annual conference in early October.
Conservative commentator Iain Dale said on Sunday that if a consensus candidate emerged, the contest could end without party members voting, as happened in 2016 with the selection of former British prime minister Theresa May.
In a sign of the potential peril of a protracted fight, the Sunday Times reported some of the leadership teams had compiled so-called “dirty dossiers” of compromising allegations against rival candidates and their aides.
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