UK:Rishi Sunak vs Liz Truss: How were the final two candidates for UK PM race selected?
During hustings events held across the country between July 28 and August 31, the final two contenders attempted to persuade party members to support them.
Following a contentious Conservative Party election between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, the United Kingdom will finally know who will succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister on September 5. The two-month contest’s voting ended on September 2, and a decision is expected to be made at 12:30 PM (local time) in London.
On September 6 the new PM and outgoing one will meet Queen Elizabeth II at her palace in Scotland, Balmoral before the winner assumes office. Truss, 47, is the overwhelming favourite among bookmakers to become the Tories’ fourth leader in just over six years and inherit the severe economic storm that Britain is currently experiencing.
The foreign secretary rose up the Tory ranks by openly emulating former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and she would be Britain’s only third female leader.
Whereas, Sunak, 42, would be the first of an ethnic minority. He joined Parliament in 2015 and rose quickly through the ranks to become chancellor in early 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. This propelled him to national fame, as he disbursed hundreds of billions of pounds in aid to firms and people affected by consecutive lockdowns.
During hustings events held across the country between July 28 and August 31, the final two contenders attempted to persuade party members to support them. The Conservative Party has not disclosed how many people were eligible to vote in the final round of the election, although it was more than 160,000, or roughly 0.3% of the overall UK electorate.
Leadership selection process
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party’s backbenchers, revealed the timing for the Tory leadership election after Boris Johnson announced his resignation. People who wanted to run had to get the support of 20 Tory MPs, which was a greater bar than in previous elections. Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, and Foreign Office minister Rehman Chishti all stated their intention to run but did not follow through.
Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi failed to secure the 30 Tory MP votes required to advance from the first round of voting. Suella Braverman, the attorney general, was ousted in the second round after receiving the fewest votes, while Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch were eliminated in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
How were the final two candidates selected?
According to Brady, Sunak won the first round with 88 votes. The other five survivors were former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch (40 votes), attorney general Suella Braverman (32 votes), foreign secretary Liz Truss (50 votes), international trade minister Penny Mordaunt (67 votes), backbencher Tom Tugendhat (37 votes)
On July 18, four contenders made it to the final round of voting for the Tory leadership contest to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, was eliminated from the running since he garnered the least number of votes. Sunak (115 votes), Mordaunt’s (82 votes), Truss (71 votes), and Badenoch (58 votes) were the four survivors.
In the fourth round of voting on, Indian-origin Sunak kept the lead to succeed Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, while one contender was eliminated. Sunak (118) received the most votes, followed by Mordaunt (92), and Truss (86). Kemi Badenoch was removed from the contest by the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers, reducing the number of competitors to three. Later, Sunak and Truss were the final two contenders for Tory leadership after Penny Mordaunt dropped.
