It would be a matter of not adding cacophony to the disaster of Liz Truss’s very short-lived tenure at the head of the British government. A few hours after the announcement of her resignation by Liz Truss on Thursday, after six weeks of political and economic downturn, the Conservative Party announced that it would retain no more than three candidates to replace him at 10 Downing Street.
Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss’s unlucky rival in the last primaries, Penny Mordaunt, Minister for Relations with Parliament, or even Defense Minister Ben Wallace? There is no shortage of names and rumors in London when it comes to speculating on the identity of the next prime minister.
The Bookmaker’s Oracle
One thing is certain: the contenders will be decided by the MPs and possibly by the MPs, according to the rules presented this Thursday by the Conservative Party. “Candidates will need to have at least 100 colleagues (out of 357 Conservative MPs, editor’s note) to sponsor them,” Majority official Graham Brady told reporters. These sponsorships must be picked up by Monday at 14:00 local time for selection the following Friday.
Then, the deputies will have to either agree on two names between which the 170,000 party members will have to arbitrate through an online vote for the same Friday.
This competition in a small committee will push everyone to take an even closer look at the forces involved. And the odds are, of course, far from equal. Thus the famous betting shopsquoted here by financial times, have already pronounced their oracle, placing Rishi Sunak well ahead of projections, ahead of Penny Mordaunt… and the ghost, Boris Johnson, who continues to enjoy contrasting popularity within his party after having to leave office last September 6. However, “BoJo’s” third position is very fragile at the moment: according to the BBC, he would prefer to be fourth, two points behind Ben Wallace.
Source: BFM TV
