Sunak widens gap in Downing Street race, four contenders remain in the race

Former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak continued his lead in the race to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday (July 18th) as the gap between Benny Mordaunt and Liz Truss narrowed for second place to qualify.

According to the results announced by Graham Brady, who is in charge of organizing the internal elections, Rishi Sunak received 115 votes from Conservative Party MPs during this third ballot. Two final rounds are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. The battle to qualify for the final head-to-head match – which will be decided by an activist vote – has intensified between Secretary of State for International Trade Penny Mordaunt (82 votes) and Secretary of State Liz Truss (71 votes). Former Equality Minister Kimi Badenouche came fourth with 58 votes, while Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Tugendhat was eliminated by 31 votes.

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In the wake of a heated debate between these five candidates on Sunday evening, Sky News announced, Monday, the cancellation of the debate scheduled for Tuesday evening, due to the refusal of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to participate. According to the channel’s website, the prospect of a third live debate raises Conservative MPs’ concerns that exposing differences between the two candidates will weaken the majority. On Sunday evening, the campaign’s second debate led to more lively exchanges than the first, at the start of a crucial week in which only two finalists will remain in the race to be decided by the party’s 200,000 members during a postal vote. . The result is expected on the fifth of September.

The head of diplomacy, Liz Truss, who was deemed unconvincing during Friday’s first debate, set the tone Sunday night by attacking her former government colleague Rishi Sunak from her first speeches, accusing her of having led the country to “RecessionBy raising taxes when he was in charge of finances. Former Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt also attacked the former Chancellor of the Exchequer on the issue, who proposed borrowing to counter the cost of living crisis choking British households, with record inflation of 9.1% in May. “It’s socialismRishi Sunak replied back. “Even (former opposition leader) Jeremy Corbyn wouldn’t have gone that far!‘, he began, and in doing so brought back an elimination which had been inflicted on him by a believer, Boris Johnson.

Liz Truss continues to attack

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have been at odds since the start of the campaign. The 46-year-old candidate is a darling of Johnson’s camp, convinced that Rishi Sunak had been waiting for his time for months before he resigned on July 4, precipitating the prime minister’s downfall. What Rishi Sunak’s supporters deny. During the attack, Liz Truss tried to catch up, having fallen in the first two rounds of voting to third behind Benny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak, whose presence in the final appears to be out of question. According to Opinium’s poll of 1,000 people on Sunday evening, Rishi Sunak performed best (24% of respondents), ahead of Tom Tugendhat (19%), Penny Mordaunt (17%), Liz Truss (15%) and Kemi. Badnock (12%).

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Parliament on Monday began debating a motion of no-confidence against the government, which poses no danger to the executive branch except for the dramatic turn of events. The government launched this proposal for technical reasons, to avenge the labor opposition that governs “UnbearableThat Boris Johnson remains in power until September. The reinforcement took place during an intervention that seemed to be a last stand, Boris Johnson declared himself “”proudof the executive branch’s work over the past three years.

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